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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, August 10, 2012

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, August 10, 2012Popular ReleasesMugen Injection: Mugen Injection 2.6: Fixed incorrect work with children when creating the MugenInjector. Added the ability to use the IActivator after create object using MethodBinding or CustomBinding. Added new fluent syntax for MethodBinding and CustomBinding. Added new features for working with the ModuleManagerComponent. Fixed some bugs.Windows Uninstaller: Windows Uninstaller v1.0: Delete Windows once You click on it. Your Anti Virus may think It is Virus because it delete Windows. Prepare a installation disc of any operating system before uninstall. ---Steps--- 1. Prepare a installation disc of any operating system. 2. Backup your files if needed. (Optional) 3. Run winuninstall.bat . 4. Your Computer will shut down, When Your Computer is shutting down, it is uninstalling Windows. 5. Re-Open your computer and quickly insert the installation disc and install the new ope...WinRT XAML Toolkit: WinRT XAML Toolkit - 1.1.2 (Win 8 RP) - Source: WinRT XAML Toolkit based on the Release Preview SDK. For compiled version use NuGet. From View/Other Windows/Package Manager Console enter: PM> Install-Package winrtxamltoolkit http://nuget.org/packages/winrtxamltoolkit Features Controls Converters Extensions IO helpers VisualTree helpers AsyncUI helpers New since 1.0.2 WatermarkTextBox control ImageButton control updates ImageToggleButton control WriteableBitmap extensions - darken, grayscale Fade in/out method and prope...WebDAV Test Application: v1.0.0.0: First releaseHTTP Server API Configuration: HttpSysManager 1.0: *Set Url ACL *Bind https endpoint to certificateFluentData -Micro ORM with a fluent API that makes it simple to query a database: FluentData version 2.3.0.0: - Added support for SQLite, PostgreSQL and IBM DB2. - Added new method, QueryDataTable which returns the query result as a datatable. - Fixed some issues. - Some refactoring. - Select builder with support for paging and improved support for auto mapping.jQuery Mobile C# ASP.NET: jquerymobile-18428.zip: Full source with AppHarbor, AppHarbor SQL, SQL Express, Windows Azure & SQL Azure hosting.eel Browser: eel 1.0.2 beta: Bug fixesJSON C# Class Generator: JSON CSharp Class Generator 1.3: Support for native JSON.net serializer/deserializer (POCO) New classes layout option: nested classes Better handling of secondary classesProgrammerTimer: ProgrammerTimer: app stays hidden in tray and periodically pops up (a small form in the bottom left corner) to notify that you need to rest while also displaying the time remaining to rest, once the resting time elapses it hides back to tray while app is hidden in tray you can double click it and it will pop up showing you working time remaining, double click again on the tray and it will hide clicking on the popup will hide it hovering the tray icon will show the state working/resting and time remainin...Axiom 3D Rendering Engine: v0.8.3376.12322: Changes Since v0.8.3102.12095 ===================================================================== Updated ndoc3 binaries to fix bug Added uninstall.ps1 to nuspec packages fixed revision component in version numbering Fixed sln referencing VS 11 Updated OpenTK Assemblies Added CultureInvarient to numeric parsing Added First Visual Studio 2010 Project Template (DirectX9) Updated SharpInputSystem Assemblies Backported fix for OpenGL Auto-created window not responding to input Fixed freeInterna...Captcha MVC: Captcha Mvc 2.1.1: v 2.1.1: Fixed problem with serialization. Minor changes. v 2.1: Added support for storing captcha in the session or cookie. See the updated example. Updated example. Minor changes. v 2.0.1: Added support for a partial captcha. Now you can easily customize the layout, see the updated example. Updated example. Minor changes. v 2.0: Completely rewritten the whole code. Now you can easily change or extend the current implementation of the captcha.(In the examples show how to add a...DotSpatial: DotSpatial 1.3: This is a Minor Release. See the changes in the issue tracker. Minimal -- includes DotSpatial core and essential extensions Extended -- includes debugging symbols and additional extensions Tutorials are available. Just want to run the software? End user (non-programmer) version available branded as MapWindow Want to add your own feature? Develop a plugin, using the template and contribute to the extension feed (you can also write extensions that you distribute in other ways). Components ...BugNET Issue Tracker: BugNET 1.0: This release brings performance enhancements, improvements and bug fixes throughout the application. Various parts of the UI have been made consistent with the rest of the application and custom queries have been improved to better handle custom fields. Spanish and Dutch languages were also added in this release. Special thanks to wrhighfield for his many contributions to this release! Upgrade Notes Please see this thread regarding changes to the web.config and files in this release. htt...Iveely Search Engine: Iveely Search Engine (0.1.0): ?????????，???????????。 This is a basic version, So you do not think it is a good Search Engine of this version, but one day it is. only basic on text search. ????： How to use: 1. ?????????IveelySE.Spider.exe ??，????????????，?????????（?????，???????，??????????????。） Find the file which named IveelySE.Spider.exe, and input you link string like "http://www.cnblogs.com",and enter. 2 . ???????，???????IveelySE.Index.exe ????，????。?????。 When the spider finish working,you can run anther file na...Video Frame Explorer: Beta 3: Fix small bugsJson.NET: Json.NET 4.5 Release 8: New feature - Serialize and deserialize multidimensional arrays New feature - Members on dynamic objects with JsonProperty/DataMember will now be included in serialized JSON New feature - LINQ to JSON load methods will read past preceding comments when loading JSON New feature - Improved error handling to return incomplete values upon reaching the end of JSON content Change - Improved performance and memory usage when serializing Unicode characters Change - The serializer now create...????: ????2.0.4: 1、??????????，?????、????、???????????。 2、???????????。RiP-Ripper & PG-Ripper: RiP-Ripper 2.9.32: changes NEW: Added Support for "ImgBox.com" links CHANGES: Switched Installer to InnoSetupjHtmlArea - WYSIWYG HTML Editor for jQuery: 0.7.5: Fixed "html" method Fixed jQuery UI Dialog ExampleNew ProjectsAuthorized Action Link Extension for ASP.NET MVC: ASP.NET HtmlHelper extension to only display links (or other text) if user is authorized for target controller action.AutoShutdown.NET: Automatically Shutdown, Hibernate, Lock, Standby or Logoff your computer with an full featured, easy to use applicationAvian Mortality Detection Entry Application: This application is written for Trimble Yuma rugged computers on Wind Farms. It allows the field staff to create and upload detentions of avian fatalities.China Coordinate: As all know, China's electronic map has specified offset. The goal of this project is to fix or correct the offset, and should as easy to use as possible.cnFederal: This project is supposed to show implementing several third party API:s using ASP.NET Web forms.ControlAccessUser: sadfsafadsDeskopeia: Experimental Deskopeia Project, not yet finisheddfect: Defect/Issue Tracking line of business application.Express Workflow: Express WorkflowGavin.Shop: A b2c Of mvc3+entityframework HTTP Server API Configuration: Friendly user interface substitute for netsh http. Configure http.sys easily.labalno: Films and moviesLibNiconico: ?????????????LifeFlow.Servicer: This project is only a day old, but the main goal is to create an easy way to create and maintain .NET-based REST servicesMemcached: Memcached is an in-memory key-value store for small chunks of arbitrary data (strings, objects) from results of database calls, API calls, or page rendering.MongoDB: MongoDB (from "humongous") is a scalable, high-performance, open source NoSQL database. Written in C++, MongoDB features:Network Gnome: An attempt to create an open source alternative to "The Dude" by Mikro Tik.PowerShell Study: ??Powershell???sfmltest: Just learning SfmlSharePoint Timerjob and IoC: This is a sample project that explains how we can use IoC container with SharePoint. I have used StructureMap as an IoC container in this project.SignalR: Async library for .NET to help build real-time, multi-user interactive web applications. Sistem LPK Pemkot Semarang: Sistem Laporan Pelaksanaan Kegiatan SKPD Kota SemarangSitecoreInstaller: SitecoreInstaller was initially developed for rapid installation of Sitecore and modules on a local developer machine and still does the job well. SQL 2012 Always On Login Syncing: SQL 2012 Always on Availability Group Login Syncing job.Swagonomics: Input your name, age, yearly income, amount spent monthly on VAT taxable goods, alcohol, cigarettes, and fuel. After hitting submit, the application calls our ATapatalk Module for Dotnetnuke Core Forum: Hi, I work for months in a plug for Dotnetnuke core forums, I have enough work done, the engine RPCXML, the Web service and a skeleton of the main functions, buTesla Analyzer: Given the great need of energy saving due to the rising price of KW, and try to educate the consumer smart energy companies.testdd09082012git01: xctestdd09082012hg01: xctesttfs09082012tfs01: sdThe Ftp Library - Most simple, full-featured .NET Ftp Library: The Ftp Library - Most simple, full-featured .NET Ftp LibraryThe Verge .NET: This is a port of the existing iOS and Android applications to Windows Phone. This project is not sponsored nor endorsed by The Verge or Vox Media . . . yet :)Util SPServices: Usefull Libraries for SPServices SPServices is one of the most usefull libraries for SharePoint 2010 and this util is just a bunch of functions that helpme to Virtual Keyboard: This is a virtual keyboard project. This can do most of what a keyboard does. whatzup.mobi: Provide streams to mobile devices via a webservice that exposes various live broadcasted audio streams from night clubs.WPFSharp.Globalizer: WPFSharp Globalizer - A project deisgned to make localization and styling easier by decoupling both processes from the build.

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• Variant Management– Which Approach fits for my Product?

  - by C. Chadwick

  Jürgen Kunz – Director Product Development – Oracle ORACLE Deutschland B.V. & Co. KG Introduction In a difficult economic environment, it is important for companies to understand the customer requirements in detail and to address them in their products. Customer specific products, however, usually cause increased costs. Variant management helps to find the best combination of standard components and custom components which balances customer’s product requirements and product costs. Depending on the type of product, different approaches to variant management will be applied. For example the automotive product “car” or electronic/high-tech products like a “computer”, with a pre-defined set of options to be combined in the individual configuration (so called “Assembled to Order” products), require a different approach to products in heavy machinery, which are (at least partially) engineered in a customer specific way (so-called “Engineered-to Order” products). This article discusses different approaches to variant management. Starting with the simple Bill of Material (BOM), this article presents three different approaches to variant management, which are provided by Agile PLM. Single level BOM and Variant BOM The single level BOM is the basic form of the BOM. The product structure is defined using assemblies and single parts. A particular product is thus represented by a fixed product structure. As soon as you have to manage product variants, the single level BOM is no longer sufficient. A variant BOM will be needed to manage product variants. The variant BOM is sometimes referred to as 150% BOM, since a variant BOM contains more parts and assemblies than actually needed to assemble the (final) product – just 150% of the parts You can evolve the variant BOM from the single level BOM by replacing single nodes with a placeholder node. The placeholder in this case represents the possible variants of a part or assembly. Product structure nodes, which are part of any product, are so-called “Must-Have” parts. “Optional” parts can be omitted in the final product. Additional attributes allow limiting the quantity of parts/assemblies which can be assigned at a certain position in the Variant BOM. Figure 1 shows the variant BOM of Agile PLM. Figure 1 Variant BOM in Agile PLM During the instantiation of the Variant BOM, the placeholders get replaced by specific variants of the parts and assemblies. The selection of the desired or appropriate variants is either done step by step by the user or by applying pre-defined configuration rules. As a result of the instantiation, an independent BOM will be created (Figure 2). Figure 2 Instantiated BOM in Agile PLM This kind of Variant BOM  can be used for „Assembled –To-Order“ type products as well as for „Engineered-to-Order“-type products. In case of “Assembled –To-Order” type products, typically the instantiation is done automatically with pre-defined configuration rules. For „Engineered- to-Order“-type products at least part of the product is selected manually to make use of customized parts/assemblies, that have been engineered according to the specific custom requirements. Template BOM The Template BOM is used for „Engineered-to-Order“-type products. It is another type of variant BOM. The engineer works in a flexible environment which allows him to build the most creative solutions. At the same time the engineer shall be guided to re-use existing solutions and it shall be assured that product variants of the same product family share the same base structure. The template BOM defines the basic structure of products belonging to the same product family. Let’s take a gearbox as an example. The customer specific configuration of the gearbox is influenced by several parameters (e.g. rpm range, transmitted torque), which are defined in the customer’s requirement document.  Figure 3 shows part of a Template BOM (yellow) and its relation to the product family hierarchy (blue).  Figure 3 Template BOM Every component of the Template BOM has links to the variants that have been engineeried so far for the component (depending on the level in the Template BOM, they are product variants, Assembly Variant or single part variants). This library of solutions, the so-called solution space, can be used by the engineers to build new product variants. In the best case, the engineer selects an existing solution variant, such as the gearbox shown in figure 3. When the existing variants do not fulfill the specific requirements, a new variant will be engineered. This new variant must be compliant with the given Template BOM. If we look at the gearbox in figure 3  it must consist of a transmission housing, a Connecting Plate, a set of Gears and a Planetary transmission – pre-assumed that all components are must have components. The new variant will enhance the solution space and is automatically available for re-use in future variants. The result of the instantiation of the Template BOM is a stand-alone BOM which represents the customer specific product variant. Modular BOM The concept of the modular BOM was invented in the automotive industry. Passenger cars are so-called „Assembled-to-Order“-products. The customer first selects the specific equipment of the car (so-called specifications) – for instance engine, audio equipment, rims, color. Based on this information the required parts will be determined and the customer specific car will be assembled. Certain combinations of specification are not available for the customer, because they are not feasible from technical perspective (e.g. a convertible with sun roof) or because the combination will not be offered for marketing reasons (e.g. steel rims with a sports line car). The modular BOM (yellow structure in figure 4) is defined in the context of a specific product family (in the sample it is product family „Speedstar“). It is the same modular BOM for the different types of cars of the product family (e.g. sedan, station wagon). The assembly or single parts of the car (blue nodes in figure 4) are assigned at the leaf level of the modular BOM. The assignment of assembly and parts to the modular BOM is enriched with a configuration rule (purple elements in figure 4). The configuration rule defines the conditions to use a specific assembly or single part. The configuration rule is valid in the context of a type of car (green elements in figure 4). Color specific parts are assigned to the color independent parts via additional configuration rules (grey elements in figure 4). The configuration rules use Boolean operators to connect the specifications. Additional consistency rules (constraints) may be used to define invalid combinations of specification (so-called exclusions). Furthermore consistency rules may be used to add specifications to the set of specifications. For instance it is important that a car with diesel engine always is build using the high capacity battery.  Figure 4 Modular BOM The calculation of the car configuration consists of several steps. First the consistency rules (constraints) are applied. Resulting from that specification might be added automatically. The second step will determine the assemblies and single parts for the complete structure of the modular BOM, by evaluating the configuration rules in the context of the current type of car. The evaluation of the rules for one component in the modular BOM might result in several rules being fulfilled. In this case the most specific rule (typically the longest rule) will win. Thanks to this approach, it is possible to add a specific variant to the modular BOM without the need to change any other configuration rules.  As a result the whole set of configuration rules is easy to maintain. Finally the color specific assemblies respective parts will be determined and the configuration is completed. Figure 5 Calculated Car Configuration The result of the car configuration is shown in figure 5. It shows the list of assemblies respective single parts (blue components in figure 5), which are required to build the customer specific car. Summary There are different approaches to variant management. Three different approaches have been presented in this article. At the end of the day, it is the type of the product which decides about the best approach.  For „Assembled to Order“-type products it is very likely that you can define the configuration rules and calculate the product variant automatically. Products of type „Engineered-to-Order“ ,however, need to be engineered. Nevertheless in the majority of cases, part of the product structure can be generated automatically in a similar way to „Assembled to Order“-tape products.  That said it is important first to analyze the product portfolio, in order to define the best approach to variant management.

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Saturday, March 24, 2012

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Saturday, March 24, 2012Popular Releasesmenu4web: menu4web 0.0.3: menu4web 0.0.3Craig's Utility Library: Craig's Utility Library 3.1: This update adds about 60 new extension methods, a couple of new classes, and a number of fixes including: Additions Added DateSpan class Added GenericDelimited class Random additions Added static thread friendly version of Random.Next called ThreadSafeNext. AOP Manager additions Added Destroy function to AOPManager (clears out all data so system can be recreated. Really only useful for testing...) ORM additions Added PagedCommand and PageCount functions to ObjectBaseClass (same as M...SQL Monitor - managing sql server performance: SQLMon 4.2 alpha 14: 1. improved accuracy of logic fault checking in analysisMapWindow 6 Desktop GIS: MapWindow 6.1.1: MapWindow 6 Desktop GIS is an open source desktop GIS for Microsoft Windows that is built upon the DotSpatial Library. This release requires .Net 4 (Client Profile). Are you a software developer?Instead of downloading MapWindow for development purposes, get started with with the DotSpatial templateDotSpatial: DotSpatial 1.1: This is a Minor Release. See the changes in the issue tracker. Minimal -- includes DotSpatial core and essential extensions Extended -- includes debugging symbols and additional extensions Just want to run the software? End user (non-programmer) version available branded as MapWindow Want to add your own feature? Develop a plugin, using the template and contribute to the extension feed (you can also write extensions that you distribute in other ways). Components are available as NuGet pa...Indiefreaks Game Framework: 0.9.2.0: Feature: Added SunBurn engine v2.0.18.7 support (doesn't support versions below). Feature: Added GammaCorrection Post processor to allow developers or even players to tweak the Gamma of the game depending on their screen (courtesy of bamyazi) Feature: Added Windows, Xbox 360 & WP7 enabled StorageManager (based on Nick Gravelyn's EasyStorage) to read/write files for player or game data. Feature: Added VirtualGamePad feature for WP7 allowing developers to define Touch areas on screen and mapped...Code for Rapid C# Windows Development eBook + LINQPad and Data Tools: LLBLGen LINQPad Data Context Driver Version 2.1: Sixth release of a LLBLGen Pro Typed Data Context Driver for LINQPad. For LLBLGen Pro versions 3.1 and 3.5(coming). New features:When you switch the query language to SQL, LINQPad updates the Schema Explorer to show SQL column names rather than CLR property names Connection dialog unloads assemblies when it has closed down so they are no longer locked - this allows them to be rebuilt while LINQPad is still open Connection dialog includes a button to quickly add assemblies needed for the...People's Note: People's Note 0.40: Version 0.40 adds an option to compact the database from the profile screen. Compacting a database can make it smaller and faster by removing empty spaces left over by editing, moving, and deleting notes. To install: copy the appropriate CAB file onto your WM device and run it.Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework - a centralized code sample library: C++, .NET Coding Guideline: Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework Coding Guideline This document describes the coding style guideline for native C++ and .NET (C# and VB.NET) programming used by the Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework project team.WebDAV for WHS: Version 1.0.67: - Added: Check whether the Remote Web Access is turned on or not; - Added: Check for Add-In updates;Image 3D Viewer: Image 3D Viewer: WPF .Net 3.5 .Net 4 .Net 4.5Phalanger - The PHP Language Compiler for the .NET Framework: 3.0 (March 2012) for .NET 4.0: March release of Phalanger 3.0 significantly enhances performance, adds new features and fixes many issues. See following for the list of main improvements: New features: Phalanger Tools installable for Visual Studio 2011 Beta "filter" extension with several most used filters implemented DomDocument HTML parser, loadHTML() method mail() PHP compatible function PHP 5.4 T_CALLABLE token PHP 5.4 "callable" type hint PCRE: UTF32 characters in range support configuration supports <c...Nearforums - ASP.NET MVC forum engine: Nearforums v8.0: Version 8.0 of Nearforums, the ASP.NET MVC Forum Engine, containing new features: Internationalization Custom authentication provider Access control list for forums and threads Webdeploy package checksum: abc62990189cf0d488ef915d4a55e4b14169bc01 Visit Roadmap for more details.BIDS Helper: BIDS Helper 1.6: This beta release is the first to support SQL Server 2012 (in addition to SQL Server 2005, 2008, and 2008 R2). Since it is marked as a beta release, we are looking for bug reports in the next few months as you use BIDS Helper on real projects. In addition to getting all existing BIDS Helper functionality working appropriately in SQL Server 2012 (SSDT), the following features are new... Analysis Services Tabular Smart Diff Tabular Actions Editor Tabular HideMemberIf Tabular Pre-Build ...Json.NET: Json.NET 4.5 Release 1: New feature - Windows 8 Metro build New feature - JsonTextReader automatically reads ISO strings as dates New feature - Added DateFormatHandling to control whether dates are written in the MS format or ISO format, with ISO as the default New feature - Added DateTimeZoneHandling to control reading and writing DateTime time zone details New feature - Added async serialize/deserialize methods to JsonConvert New feature - Added Path to JsonReader/JsonWriter/ErrorContext and exceptions w...SCCM Client Actions Tool: SCCM Client Actions Tool v1.11: SCCM Client Actions Tool v1.11 is the latest version. It comes with following changes since last version: Fixed a bug when ping and cmd.exe kept running in endless loop after action progress was finished. Fixed update checking from Codeplex RSS feed. The tool is downloadable as a ZIP file that contains four files: ClientActionsTool.hta – The tool itself. Cmdkey.exe – command line tool for managing cached credentials. This is needed for alternate credentials feature when running the HTA...WebSocket4Net: WebSocket4Net 0.5: Changes in this release fixed the wss's default port bug improved JsonWebSocket supported set client access policy protocol for silverlight fixed a handshake issue in Silverlight fixed a bug that "Host" field in handshake hadn't contained port if the port is not default supported passing in Origin parameter for handshaking supported reacting pings from server side fixed a bug in data sending fixed the bug sending a closing handshake with no message which would cause an excepti...SuperWebSocket, a .NET WebSocket Server: SuperWebSocket 0.5: Changes included in this release: supported closing handshake queue checking improved JSON subprotocol supported sending ping from server to client fixed a bug about sending a closing handshake with no message refactored the code to improve protocol compatibility fixed a bug about sub protocol configuration loading in Mono improved BasicSubProtocol added JsonWebSocketSessionSurvey™ - web survey & form engine: Survey™ 2.0: The new stable Survey™ Project 2.0.0.1 version contains many new features like: Technical changes: - Use of Jquery, ASTreeview, Tabs, Tooltips and new menuprovider Features & Bugfixes: Survey list and search function Folder structure for surveys New Menustructure Library list New Library fields User list and search functions Layout options for a survey with CSS, page header and footer New IP filter security feature Enhanced Token Management New Question fields as ID, Alias...Speed up Printer migration using PrintBrm and it's configuration files: BRMC.EXE: Run the tool from the extracted directory of the printbrm backup. You can use the following command to extract a backup file to a directory - PRINTBRM.EXE -R -D C:\TEMP\EXPAND -F C:\TEMP\PRINTERBACKUP.PRINTEREXPORTNew ProjectsAsp.NET Url Router: 1.Url rewritting. 2.Provider regex matcher 3.Support custom url validate handler.BC-Web: ch projectCape: Dynamically generates Capistrano recipes for Rake tasks.cstgamebgs: Project for wp7GCalculator: GCalculator for performing basic arithmetic operations. Windows Sidebar Gadget invacc: Invacc- for inventory and Account Onlineirgsh-node: Worker nodes of BlankOn Package Factory - http://irgsh.blankonlinux.or.id/irgsh-repo: Repository manager node of BlankOn Package Factory - http://irgsh.blankonlinux.or.id/irgsh-web: Web interface and task manager of BlankOn Package Factory - http://irgsh.blankonlinux.or.id/Kinect Explorer For SharePoint 2010: Kinect Explorer for SharePoint is a tool which provide Natural User Interface to browse through SharePoint sites. Use body gestures to browse, read, move, copy documents. Use Speech services to read-out the files.MCU: mcu devMVC3ShellCode: MVC3ShellCode MVC3ShellCode MVC3ShellCode MVC3ShellCode MVC3ShellCode MVC3ShellCode NetWatch: NetWatch - network watchdog Small application primary designed for network connectivity monitoring. You can configure set of network tests (ping, http, ...) and time plan for this tests. Application is running in windows notification area and notife you each problem. NMortgage: The goal of this project will be to give a prospective home buyer or an existing home owner the insight they need to explore effects of different repayment strategies or different mortgage structures. Nucleo.NET MVP: The Nucleo MVP framework provides a Model-View-Presenter approach that isn't obtrusive, can be utilized in multiple environments, and is versatile. Providing a lot of features you see in other frameworks, the Nucleo MVP framework provides many extensibility points, pretty much allowing you to rewrite most of the framework. It features dynamic injection support, presenter and view initializers (like what you see in ASP.NET MVC), model property injection, attribute- and convention-based vie...P2PShare: This project is to build a new and moden System for p2p file shearing supporting downloads from HTTP, HTTPS, FTP support for P2Pshare client list servers so files can point to a server or a host only file so no servers are used and only p2p is usedPipeLayer: proyecto de sistemas inteligentespython-irgsh: Python library for BlankOn Package Factory - http://irgsh.blankonlinux.or.id/RamGec XNA Controls - Window Elements Library for XNA Solutions: Lightweight, ultra-high performance and flexible library for displaying and managing Window Controls for XNA system. Features its own Window Designer for creating custom windows and controls.RPG Character Generators and Tools: Various tools for pen and paper style role playing games.Screen scraper: A program that can be used to download public domain MP3 and other media such as pdf documents.SharePoint Bdc request library: The given set of classes simplifies an access to the external data, which can be reached through BDC. The library allows to make simple requests for values from external data source, using a BDC Entity Instance Identifier(s) or a value of a certain BDC Entity field. Developed to interact with Business Data Connectivity of SharePoint 2010.testtom03232012git01: testtom03232012git01testtom03232012git02: testtom03232012git02the north star uc: University projectTyphon: Typhon is a role playing simulation management application, much like Nova, but written in MVC/C#.VRE LabTrove-SharePoint connector: The VRE LabTrove-SharePoint Connector provides a means of integrating the ability to view, post to, and edit posts stored in a LabTrove electronic laboratory notebook from within the familiar environment of Microsoft SharePoint. Once installed and configured, these Web Parts give SharePoint users a straightforward way to interact with any LabTrove installation that they wish to use. They also facilitate users to attach data that is stored in a SharePoint Document Library to the LabTrove posts...

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• Is One Tool or a Suite of Tools Better for Scrum?

  - by Rob Wells

  G'day, Edit: We've been using Scrum very successfully for several years on several projects of varying sizes. In fact, our team developed the successful iPlayer project for the BBC using a classical Scrum approach. After using various combinations of tools, some high-tech, some low-tech, across these projects we now wish to try adopting a suitable tool suite. Our manager is to some extent attempting to force the adoption of a single suite of tools for Scrum. I've looked at the SO question "Best Scrum tools" and most people seem to recommend either: a suite of low-tech solutions, e.g. whiteboards, post-its, index cards, etc., or a monolithic tool that tries to satisfy as much as possible of the process, e.g. Agilo, Mingle, ScrumWorks, Target Process, etc. Our team is currently evaluating several different Scrum tools. However, we are looking at selecting a single, monolithic tool, e.g. Agilo. All of the "one-stop" solutions have their strengths and weaknesses with the serious enterprise type solutions being the best sort of fit. But all have some short comings. After reading the paper "Peer Code Review: An Agile Process" over at SmartBear I started wondering if we were trying to force adoption of a tool on a "best fit" basis. I think you can take a couple of reference artefacts of the Scrum development process, say user stories, epics and themes, and the code base which must use a well-known SCM, e.g. SVN, Hg, etc. Then if we take that as the common reference points for the tools employed then we would be able to use a group of tools to handle the different aspects of the Scrum process rather than try forcing a fit of a single tool would is a bit like forcing a square peg into the round hole. In this way, providing you've agreed your common reference points, you can use several tools, each performing their role better than a could be done by a single component in a monolithic tool suite. Is this a more sensible approach? Are the two reference points I mentioned above suitable, or is their a better choice of points where the tools would meet? cheers,

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• How to maximize http.sys file upload performance

  - by anelson

  I'm building a tool that transfers very large streaming data sets (possibly on the order of terabytes in a single stream; routinely in the tens of gigabytes) from one server to another. The client portion of the tool will read blocks from the source disk, and send them over the network. The server side will read these blocks off the network and write them to a file on the server disk. Right now I'm trying to decide which transport to use. Options are raw TCP, and HTTP. I really, REALLY want to be able to use HTTP. The HttpListener (or WCF if I want to go that route) make it easy to plug in to the HTTP Server API (http.sys), and I can get things like authentication and SSL for free. The problem right now is performance. I wrote a simple test harness that sends 128K blocks of NULL bytes using the BeginWrite/EndWrite async I/O idiom, with async BeginRead/EndRead on the server side. I've modified this test harness so I can do this with either HTTP PUT operations via HttpWebRequest/HttpListener, or plain old socket writes using TcpClient/TcpListener. To rule out issues with network cards or network pathways, both the client and server are on one machine and communicate over localhost. On my 12-core Windows 2008 R2 test server, the TCP version of this test harness can push bytes at 450MB/s, with minimal CPU usage. On the same box, the HTTP version of the test harness runs between 130MB/s and 200MB/s depending upon how I tweak it. In both cases CPU usage is low, and the vast majority of what CPU usage there is is kernel time, so I'm pretty sure my usage of C# and the .NET runtime is not the bottleneck. The box has two 6-core Xeon X5650 processors, 24GB of single-ranked DDR3 RAM, and is used exclusively by me for my own performance testing. I already know about HTTP client tweaks like ServicePointManager.MaxServicePointIdleTime, ServicePointManager.DefaultConnectionLimit, ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue, and HttpWebRequest.AllowWriteStreamBuffering. Does anyone have any ideas for how I can get HTTP.sys performance beyond 200MB/s? Has anyone seen it perform this well on any environment?

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• Why is it still so hard to write software?

  - by nornagon

  Writing software, I find, is composed of two parts: the Idea, and the Implementation. The Idea is about thinking: "I have this problem; how do I solve it?" and further, "how do I solve it elegantly?" The answers to these questions are obtainable by thinking about algorithms and architecture. The ideas come partially through analysis and partially through insight and intuition. The Idea is usually the easy part. You talk to your friends and co-workers and you nut it out in a meeting or over coffee. It takes an hour or two, plus revisions as you implement and find new problems. The Implementation phase of software development is so difficult that we joke about it. "Oh," we say, "the rest is a Simple Matter of Code." Because it should be simple, but it never is. We used to write our code on punch cards, and that was hard: mistakes were very difficult to spot, so we had to spend extra effort making sure every line was perfect. Then we had serial terminals: we could see all our code at once, search through it, organise it hierarchically and create things abstracted from raw machine code. First we had assemblers, one level up from machine code. Mnemonics freed us from remembering the machine code. Then we had compilers, which freed us from remembering the instructions. We had virtual machines, which let us step away from machine-specific details. And now we have advanced tools like Eclipse and Xcode that perform analysis on our code to help us write code faster and avoid common pitfalls. But writing code is still hard. Writing code is about understanding large, complex systems, and tools we have today simply don't go very far to help us with that. When I click "find all references" in Eclipse, I get a list of them at the bottom of the window. I click on one, and I'm torn away from what I was looking at, forced to context switch. Java architecture is usually several levels deep, so I have to switch and switch and switch until I find what I'm really looking for -- by which time I've forgotten where I came from. And I do that all day until I've understood a system. It's taxing mentally, and Eclipse doesn't do much that couldn't be done in 1985 with grep, except eat hundreds of megs of RAM. Writing code has barely changed since we were staring at amber on black. We have the theoretical groundwork for much more advanced tools, tools that actually work to help us comprehend and extend the complex systems we work with every day. So why is writing code still so hard?

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• OpenGL Polygon Stipple Not Working On Different Machine

  - by FranticPedantic

  I have a situation where I am trying to draw a semi-transparent rectangle over a background that is not using openGL and so I can not use blending. I decided to use polygon stippling for a 'screen door transparency' effect as recommended by some. It works fine on my machine and some others, but on some machines with slightly old Intel graphics cards it's failing to render the rectangle at all. If I turn off polygon stipple, it renders fine (but without the stipple). I have compared many of the state variables that I thought might affect it (see code) between machines and they are all the same, and I get no errors. static const GLubyte stipplePatternChkr[128]; //definition omitted for clarity //but works on my machine // stipple the box glPolygonMode(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK, GL_FILL); glColor4ubv(Color(COLORREF_PADGRAY)); glEnable(GL_POLYGON_STIPPLE); glPolygonStipple(stipplePatternChkr); CRect rcStipple(dim); rcStipple.DeflateRect(padding - 1, padding - 1); glBegin(GL_QUADS); glVertex2i(rcStipple.left, rcStipple.bottom); glVertex2i(rcStipple.right, rcStipple.bottom); glVertex2i(rcStipple.right, rcStipple.top); glVertex2i(rcStipple.left, rcStipple.top); glEnd(); glDisable(GL_POLYGON_STIPPLE); int err = glGetError(); if (err != GL_NO_ERROR) { TRACE("glError(%s: %s)\n", s, gluErrorString(err)); } float x; glGetFloatv(GL_UNPACK_ALIGNMENT, &x); TRACE("unpack alignment %f\n", x); glGetFloatv(GL_UNPACK_IMAGE_HEIGHT, &x); TRACE("unpack height %f\n", x); glGetFloatv(GL_UNPACK_LSB_FIRST, &x); TRACE("unpack lsb %f\n", x); glGetFloatv(GL_UNPACK_ROW_LENGTH, &x); TRACE("unpack length %f\n", x); glGetFloatv(GL_UNPACK_SKIP_PIXELS, &x); TRACE("upnack skip %f\n", x); glGetFloatv(GL_UNPACK_SWAP_BYTES, &x); TRACE("upnack swap %f\n", x);

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• WPF Storyboard works well, except for the first time it runs. Why?

  - by sofri

  Hi, I'm doing a Surface Application. And there I have something like a bulletin board where little cards with news on it are pinned on. On click they shall fly out of the board and scale bigger. My storyboard works well, except for the first time it runs. It's not a smooth animation then but it scales to its final size immediately and it's the same with the orientation-property. Just the center-property seems to behave correctly. This is an example for one of my Storyboards doing that: Storyboard stb = new Storyboard(); PointAnimation moveCenter = new PointAnimation(); DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames changeWidth = new DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames(); DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames changeHeight = new DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames(); DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames changeOrientation = new DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames(); moveCenter.From = News1.ActualCenter; moveCenter.To = new Point(250, 400); moveCenter.Duration = new Duration(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1.0)); moveCenter.FillBehavior = FillBehavior.Stop; stb.Children.Add(moveCenter); Storyboard.SetTarget(moveCenter, News1); Storyboard.SetTargetProperty(moveCenter, new PropertyPath(ScatterViewItem.CenterProperty)); changeWidth.Duration = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1); changeWidth.KeyFrames.Add(new EasingDoubleKeyFrame(266, KeyTime.FromTimeSpan(new System.TimeSpan(0, 0, 1)))); changeWidth.FillBehavior = FillBehavior.Stop; stb.Children.Add(changeWidth); Storyboard.SetTarget(changeWidth, News1); Storyboard.SetTargetProperty(changeWidth, new PropertyPath(FrameworkElement.WidthProperty)); changeHeight.Duration = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1); changeHeight.KeyFrames.Add(new EasingDoubleKeyFrame(400, KeyTime.FromTimeSpan(new System.TimeSpan(0, 0, 1)))); changeHeight.FillBehavior = FillBehavior.Stop; stb.Children.Add(changeHeight); Storyboard.SetTarget(changeHeight, News1); Storyboard.SetTargetProperty(changeHeight, new PropertyPath(FrameworkElement.HeightProperty)); changeOrientation.Duration = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1); changeOrientation.KeyFrames.Add(new EasingDoubleKeyFrame(0, KeyTime.FromTimeSpan(new System.TimeSpan(0, 0, 1)))); changeOrientation.FillBehavior = FillBehavior.Stop; stb.Children.Add(changeOrientation); Storyboard.SetTarget(changeOrientation, News1); Storyboard.SetTargetProperty(changeOrientation, new PropertyPath(ScatterViewItem.OrientationProperty)); stb.Begin(this); News1.Center = new Point(250, 400); News1.Orientation = 0; News1.Width = 266; News1.Height = 400; Pin1.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed; news1IsOutside = true; Scroll1.IsEnabled = true; What's wrong with it?

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• Can GPU capabilities impact virtual machine performance?

  - by Dave White

  While this many not seem like a programming question directly, it impacts my development activities and so it seems like it belongs here. It seems that more and more developers are turning to virtual environments for development activities on their computers, SharePoint development being a prime example. Also, as a trainer, I have virtual training environments for all of the classes that I teach. I recently purchased a new Dell E6510 to travel around with. It has the i7 620M (Dual core, HyperThreaded cpu running at 2.66GHz) and 8 GB of memory. Reading the spec sheet, it sounded like it would be a great laptop to carry around and run virtual machines on. Getting the laptop though, I've been pretty disappointed with the user experience of developing in a virtual machine. Giving the Virtual Machine 4 GB of memory, it was slow and I could type complete sentences and watch the VM "catchup". My company has training laptops that we provide for our classes. They are Dell Precision M6400 Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 running at 2.54Ghz with 8 GB of memory and the experience on this laptops is night and day compared to the E6510. They are crisp and you barely aware that you are running in a virtual environment. Since the E6510 should be faster in all categories than the M6400, I couldn't understand why the new laptop was slower, so I did a component by component comparison and the only place where the E6510 is less performant than the M6400 is the graphics department. The M6400 is running a nVidia FX 2700m GPU and the E6510 is running a nVidia 3100M GPU. Looking at benchmarks of the two GPUs suggest that the FX 2700M is twice as fast as the 3100M. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html 3100M = 111th (E6510) FX 2700m = 47th (Precision M6400) Radeon HD 5870 = 8th (Alienware) The host OS is Windows 7 64bit as is the guest OS, running in Virtual Box 3.1.8 with Guest Additions installed on the guest. The IDE being used in the virtual environment is VS 2010 Premium. So after that long setup, my question is: Is the GPU significantly impacting the virtual machine's performance or are there other factors that I'm not looking at that I can use to boost the vm's performance? Do we now have to consider GPU performance when purchasing laptops where we expect to use virtualized development environments? Thanks in advance. Cheers, Dave

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• SQL not yielding expected results

  - by AnonJr

  I have three tables related to this particular query: Lawson_Employees: LawsonID (pk), LastName, FirstName, AccCode (numeric) Lawson_DeptInfo: AccCode (pk), AccCode2 (don't ask, HR set up), DisplayName tblExpirationDates: EmpID (pk), ACLS (date), EP (date), CPR (date), CPR_Imported (date), PALS (date), Note The goal is to get the data I need to report on all those who have already expired in one or more certification, or are going to expire in the next 90 days. Some important notes: This is being run as part of a vbScript, so the 90-day date is being calculated when the script is run. I'm using 2010-08-31 as a placeholder since its the result at the time this question is being posted. All cards expire at the end of the month. (which is why the above date is for the end of August and not 90 days on the dot) A valid EP card supersedes ACLS certification, but only the latter is required of some employees. (wasn't going to worry about it until I got this question answered, but if I can get the help I'll take it) The CPR column contains the expiration date for the last class they took with us. (NULL if they didn't take any classes with us) The CPR_Imported column contains the expiration date for the last class they took somewhere else. (NULL if they didn't take it elsewhere, and bravo for following policy) The distinction between CPR classes is important for other reports. For purposes of this report, all we really care about is which one is the most current - or at least is currently current. If I have to, I'll ignore ACLS and PALS for the time being as it is non-compliance with CPR training that is the big issue at the moment. (not that the others won't be, but they weren't mentioned in the last meeting...) Here's the query I have so far, which is giving me good data: SELECT iEmp.LawsonID, iEmp.LastName, iEmp.FirstName, dept.AccCode2, dept.DisplayName, Exp.ACLS, Exp.EP, Exp.CPR, Exp.CPR_Imported, Exp.PALS, Exp.Note FROM (Lawson_Employees AS iEmp LEFT JOIN Lawson_DeptInfo AS dept ON dept.AccCode = iEmp.AccCode) LEFT JOIN tblExpirationDates AS Exp ON iEmp.LawsonID = Exp.EmpID WHERE iEmp.CurrentEmp = 1 AND ((Exp.ACLS <= #2010-08-31# AND Exp.ACLS IS NOT NULL) OR (Exp.CPR <= #2010-08-31# AND Exp.CPR_Imported <= #2010-08-31#) OR (Exp.PALS <= #2010-08-31# AND Exp.PALS IS NOT NULL)) ORDER BY dept.AccCode2, iEmp.LastName, iEmp.FirstName; After perusing the result set, I think I'm missing some expiration dates that should be in the result set. Am I missing something? This is the sucky part of being the only developer in the department... no one to ask for a little help.

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• Need help with tweaking a Dropdown with three options, user selects one - a hidden div appears with correct fields

  - by Jack

  Hello Again, I posted a question on here and got an answer within minutes I'm hoping the wizards on here can help me again. Okay so I'm using a script I found online to try and add this function to a shopping cart form. Here's the setup. I have a payment method dropdown with Visa, Mastercard and Bank Withdrawal as the options. For the credit cards I have one hidden div with a certain set of fields, and for the bank I have another hidden div. Each of the divs have named ID's - #payCredit and #payBank The css for both have margin: 0px and display: none; Here's a peice of javascript I used successfuly on a shipping address checkbox `function toggleLayer( whichLayer ) { var elem, vis; if( document.getElementById ) // this is the way the standards work elem = document.getElementById( whichLayer ); else if( document.all ) // this is the way old msie versions work elem = document.all[whichLayer]; else if( document.layers ) // this is the way nn4 works elem = document.layers[whichLayer]; vis = elem.style; // if the style.display value is blank we try to figure it out here if(vis.display==''&&elem.offsetWidth!=undefined&&elem.offsetHeight!=undefined) vis.display = (elem.offsetWidth!=0&&elem.offsetHeight!=0)?'block':'none'; vis.display = (vis.display==''||vis.display=='block')?'none':'block'; }` I was hoping I could change it slightly to meet my needs. Here's the dropdown <label>Payment Method:</label> <select name="payment" id="payment" class="dropdown3" style="width:8em"> <option selected="selected">Select</option> <option value="Visa" onclick="javascript:toggleLayer('payCredit');">Visa</option> <option value="MasterCard" onclick="javascript:toggleLayer('payCredit');">Mastercard</option> <option value="Direct" onclick="javascript:toggleLayer('payBank');">Direct Withdraw</option> </select></li> The current result is that it kinda works. I can open the dropdown and select Visa and it appears, if I select Visa again it disappears, if I select Visa and then select bank, both appear. You can see what i'm working on here - http://test.sharevetcare.com/bestfriends/cart3.html

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• asp.net mvc 2 multithread

  - by Chris Cap

  I'm getting some weird behavior in asp.net MVC2 (at least it's not what I'm expecting). I have a controller httppost action that processes credit cards. I'm setting a session variable on the server to let me know if a user has attempted to process a card. I clear that session variable when I'm done. I am doing some very quick posts to test the process and the session variable is coming back null everytime because I clear the session variable at the end of the process. I have some debug prints that show me that the all requests are processed synchronously. That is...the first attempt occurs, it fails, session variable is cleared, second attempt tries and fails and the variable is cleared, etc... My first thought was that this was a side effect of debugging and that it just lined requests up for debugging purposes using the local webserver. So I put it on a development server and the same thing is occurring. Multiple submits/posts are processed synchronously. I even put a System.Threading.Sleep in there to make sure it would stop right after I set the session variable and it still won't even START the second request until the first is done. Has anyone else seen this behavior? My understanding was that a worker process was spawned for each request and that these actions could happen asychronously. Here's some psuedo code if (Session["CardCharged"] != null) return RedirectToAction("Index", "Problem"); Session["CardCharged"] = false; //starting the process System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10000); //charge card here if (!providerResponse.IsApproved) { System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("failed"); Session["CardCharged"] = null; //have to allow them to charge again since this failed return View(myModel); } Session["CardCharged"] = true; return RedirectToAction("Index", "OrderComplete"); I should mention that my code ALWAYS fails the credit card check for testing purposes. I'm trying to test the situation where processing is STILL occurring and redirect the user elsewhere. I have set a dummy session variable elsewhere to assure that the session id "sticks". So I know the session id is the same for each request. Thanks

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• Week in Geek: LastPass Rescues Xmarks Edition

  - by Asian Angel

  This week we learned how to breathe new life into an aging Windows Mobile 6.x device, use filters in Photoshop, backup and move VirtualBox machines, use the BitDefender Rescue CD to clean an infected PC, and had fun setting up a pirates theme on our computers. Photo by _nash. Weekly Feature Do you love using the Faenza icon set on your Ubuntu system but feel that there are a few much needed icons missing (or you desire a different version of a particular icon)? Then you may want to take a look at the Faenza Variants icon pack. The icons are available in the following sizes: 16px, 22px, 32px, 48px and scalable sizes. Photo by Asian Angel. Faenza Variants Random Geek Links Another week with extra link goodness to help keep you on top of the news. Photo by Asian Angel. LastPass acquires Xmarks, premium service announced Xmarks announced that it has been acquired by LastPass, a cross-platform password management service. This also means that Xmarks is now in transition from a “free” to a “freemium” business model. WikiLeaks reappears on European Net domains WikiLeaks has re-emerged on a Swiss Internet domain followed by domains in Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands, sidestepping a move that had in effect taken the controversial site off the Internet. Iran: Yes, Stuxnet hurt our nuclear program The Stuxnet worm got some big play from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who acknowledged that the malware dinged his nuclear program. More Windows Rogues than Just AV – Fake Defragmenter Check Disk Don’t think for a second that rogues are limited to scareware, because as so-called products such as “System Defragmenter”, “Scan Disk” “Check Disk” prove, they’re not. Internet Explorer’s Protected Mode can be bypassed Researchers from Verizon Business have now described a way of bypassing Protected Mode in IE 7 and 8 in order to gain access to user accounts. Can you really see who viewed your Facebook profile? Rogue application spreads virally Once again, a rogue application is spreading virally between Facebook users pretending to offer you a way of seeing who has viewed your profile. More holes in Palm’s WebOS Researchers Orlando Barrera and Daniel Herrera, who both work for security firm SecTheory, have discovered a gaping security hole in Palm’s WebOS smartphone operating system. Next-gen banking Trojans hit APAC With the proliferation of banking Trojans, Web and smartphone users of online banking services have to be on constant alert to avoid falling prey to fraud schemes, warned Etay Maor, project manager for RSA Fraud Action. AVG update cripples 64-bit computers A signature update automatically deployed by the AVG virus scanner Thursday has crippled numerous computers. Article includes link to forums to fix computers affected after a restart. Congress moves to outlaw ‘mystery charges’ for Web shoppers Legislation that makes it illegal for Web merchants and so-called post-transaction marketers to charge credit cards without the card owners’ say-so came closer to becoming law this week. Ballmer Set to “Look Into” Windows Home Server Drive Extender Fiasco Tuesday’s announcement from Microsoft regarding the removal of Drive Extender from Windows Home Server has sent shock waves across the web. Google tweaks search recipe to ding scam artists Google has changed its search algorithm to penalize sites deemed to provide an “extremely poor user experience” following a New York Times story on a merchant who justified abusive behavior towards customers as a search-engine optimization tactic. Geek Video of the Week Watch as our two friends debate back and forth about the early adoption of new technology through multiple time periods (Stone Age to the far future). Will our reluctant friend finally succumb to the temptation? Photo by CollegeHumor. Early Adopters Through History Random TinyHacker Links Fix Issues in Windows 7 Using Reliability Monitor Learn how to analyze Windows 7 errors and then fix them using the built-in reliability monitor. Learn About IE Tab Groups Tab groups is a useful feature in IE 8. Here’s a detailed guide to what it is all about. Google’s Book Helps You Learn About Browsers and Web A cool new online book by the Google Chrome team on browsers and the web. TrustPort Internet Security 2011 – Good Security from a Less Known Provider TrustPort is not exactly a well-known provider of security solutions. At least not in the consumer space. This review tests in detail their latest offering. How the World is Using Cell phones An infographic showing the shocking demographics of cell phone use. Super User Questions See the great answers to these questions from Super User. I am unable to access my C drive. It says it is unable to display current owner. List of Windows special directories/shortcuts like ‘%TEMP%’ Is using multiple passes for wiping a disk really necessary? How can I view two files side by side in Notepad++ Is there any tool that automatically puts screenshots to my Dropbox? How-To Geek Weekly Article Recap Look through our hottest articles from this past week at How-To Geek. How to Create a Software RAID Array in Windows 7 9 Alternatives for Windows Home Server’s Drive Extender Why Doesn’t Disk Cleanup Delete Everything from the Temp Folder? Ask the Readers: How Much Do You Customize Your Operating System? How to Upload Really Large Files to SkyDrive, Dropbox, or Email One Year Ago on How-To Geek Enjoy reading through these awesome articles from one year ago. How To Upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 Home Premium Edition How To Fix No Aero Transparency in Windows 7 Troubleshoot Startup Problems with Startup Repair Tool in Windows 7 & Vista Rename the Guest Account in Windows 7 for Enhanced Security Disable Error Reporting in XP, Vista, and Windows 7 The Geek Note That wraps things up here for this week. Regardless of the weather wherever you may be, we hope that you have an opportunity to get outside and have some fun! Remember to keep sending those great tips in to us at [email protected]. Photo by Tony the Misfit. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Get the Complete Android Guide eBook for Only 99 Cents [Update: Expired] Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 7: Design and Typography How to Choose What to Back Up on Your Linux Home Server How To Harmonize Your Dual-Boot Setup for Windows and Ubuntu Hang in There Scrat! – Ice Age Wallpaper How Do You Know When You’ve Passed Geek and Headed to Nerd? On The Tip – A Lamborghini Theme for Chrome and Iron What if Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner were Human? [Video] Peaceful Winter Cabin Wallpaper Store Tabs for Later Viewing in Opera with Tab Vault

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• I have finally traded my Blackberry in for a Droid!

  - by Bob Porter

  Over the years I have used a number of different types of phones. Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Nokia, and now Android. Until the Blackberry, which was my last phone (and I still have one issued from my office) I had never found a phone that “just worked” especially with email and messaging. The Blackberry did, and does, excel at those functions. My last personal phone was a Storm 1 which was Blackberry’s first touch screen phone. The Storm 2 was an improved version that fixed some screen press detection issues from the first model and it added Wifi. Over the last few years I have watched others acquire and fall in love with their ‘Droid’s including a number of iPhone users which surprised me. Our office has until recently only supported Blackberry phones, adding iPhones within the last year or so. When I spoke with our internal telecom folks they confirmed they were evaluating Android phones, but felt they still were not secure enough out of the box for corporate use and SOX compliance. That being said, as a personal phone, the Droid Rocks! I am impressed with its speed, the number of apps available, and the overall design. It is not as “flashy” as an iPhone but it does everything that I care about and more. The model I bought is the Motorola Droid 2 Global from Verizon. It is currently running Android 2.2 for it’s OS, 2.3 is just around the corner. It has 8 gigs of internal flash memory and can handle up to a 32 gig SDCard. (I currently have 2 8 gig cards, one for backups, and have ordered a 16 gig card!) Being a geek at heart, I “rooted” the phone which means gained superuser access to the OS on the phone. And opens a number of doors for further modifications down the road. Also being a geek meant I have already setup a development environment and built and deployed the obligatory “Hello Droid” application. I will be writing of my development experiences with this new platform here often, to start off I thought I would share my current application list to give you an idea what I am using. Zedge: http://market.android.com/details?id=net.zedge.android XDA: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.quoord.tapatalkxda.activity WRAL.com: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.mylocaltv.wral Wireless Tether: http://market.android.com/details?id=android.tether Winamp: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.nullsoft.winamp Win7 Clock: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.widget.toggles.win7 Wifi Analyzer: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer WeatherBug: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.aws.android Weather Widget Forecast Addon: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.weather.forecastaddon Weather & Toggle Widgets: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.widget.weather2 Vlingo: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.vlingo.client VirtualTENHO-G: http://market.android.com/details?id=jp.bustercurry.virtualtenho_g Twitter: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.twitter.android TweetDeck: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.thedeck.android.app Tricorder: http://market.android.com/details?id=org.hermit.tricorder Titanium Backup PRO: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.keramidas.TitaniumBackupPro Titanium Backup: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup Terminal Emulator: http://market.android.com/details?id=jackpal.androidterm Talking Tom Free: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.outfit7.talkingtom Stock Blue: http://market.android.com/details?id=org.adw.theme.stockblue ST: Red Alert Free: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.oldplanets.redalertwallpaper ST: Red Alert: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.oldplanets.redalertwallpaperplus Solitaire: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.kmagic.solitaire Skype: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.skype.raider Silent Time Lite: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.QuiteHypnotic.SilentTime ShopSavvy: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.biggu.shopsavvy Shopper: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.shopper Shiny clock: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.clock.shiny ShareMyApps: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.mattlary.shareMyApps Sense Glass ADW Theme: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.dtanquary.senseglassadwtheme ROM Manager: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.koushikdutta.rommanager Roboform Bookmarklet Installer: http://market.android.com/details?id=roboformBookmarkletInstaller.android.com RealCalc: http://market.android.com/details?id=uk.co.nickfines.RealCalc Package Buddy: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.psyrus.packagebuddy Overstock: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.overstock OMGPOP Toggle: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.widget.toggle.omgpop OI File Manager: http://market.android.com/details?id=org.openintents.filemanager nook: http://market.android.com/details?id=bn.ereader MyAtlas-Google Maps Navigation ext: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.adaptdroid.navbookfree3 MSN Droid: http://market.android.com/details?id=msn.droid.im Matrix Live Wallpaper: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.jarodyv.livewallpaper.matrix LogMeIn: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.logmein.ignitionpro.android Liveshare: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.cooliris.app.liveshare Kobo: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.kobobooks.android Instant Heart Rate: http://market.android.com/details?id=si.modula.android.instantheartrate IMDb: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.imdb.mobile Home Plus Weather: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.widget.skin.weather.homeplus Handcent SMS: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.handcent.nextsms H7C Clock: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.widget.clock.skin.h7c GTasks: http://market.android.com/details?id=org.dayup.gtask GPS Status: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2 Google Voice: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice Google Sky Map: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.stardroid Google Reader: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.reader GoMarks: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androappsdev.gomarks Goggles: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.unveil Glossy Black Weather: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.widget.weather.skin.glossyblack Fox News: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.foxnews.android Foursquare: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.joelapenna.foursquared FBReader: http://market.android.com/details?id=org.geometerplus.zlibrary.ui.android Fandango: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.fandango Facebook: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.facebook.katana Extensive Notes Pro: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.flufflydelusions.app.extensive_notes_donate Expense Manager: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.expensemanager Espresso UI (LightShow w/ Slide): http://market.android.com/details?id=com.jaguirre.slide.lightshow Engadget: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.aol.mobile.engadget Earth: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.earth Drudge: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.iavian.dreport Dropbox: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.dropbox.android DroidForums: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.quoord.tapatalkdrodiforums.activity DroidArmor ADW: http://market.android.com/details?id=mobi.addesigns.droidarmorADW Droid Weather Icons: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.widget.weather.skins.white Droid 2 Bootstrapper: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.koushikdutta.droid2.bootstrap doubleTwist: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.doubleTwist.androidPlayer Documents To Go: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.dataviz.docstogo Digital Clock Widget: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.maize.digitalClock Desk Home: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.cowbellsoftware.deskdock Default Clock: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.widget.clock.skins.defaultclock Daily Expense Manager: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.techahead.ExpenseManager ConnectBot: http://market.android.com/details?id=org.connectbot Colorized Weather Icons: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.widget.weather.colorized Chrome to Phone: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.chrometophone CardStar: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.cardstar.android Books: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.books Black Ipad Toggle: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidapps.toggle.widget.skin.blackipad Black Glass ADW Theme: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.dtanquary.blackglassadwtheme Bing: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.microsoft.mobileexperiences.bing BeyondPod Unlock Key: http://market.android.com/details?id=mobi.beyondpod.unlockkey BeyondPod: http://market.android.com/details?id=mobi.beyondpod BeejiveIM: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.beejive.im Beautiful Widgets Animations Addon: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.levelup.bw.forecast Beautiful Widgets: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.levelup.beautifulwidgets Beautiful Live Weather: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.levelup.beautifullive BBC News: http://market.android.com/details?id=net.jimblackler.newswidget Barnacle Wifi Tether: http://market.android.com/details?id=net.szym.barnacle Barcode Scanner: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.zxing.client.android ASTRO SMB Module: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.metago.astro.smb ASTRO Pro: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.metago.astro.pro ASTRO Bluetooth Module: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.metago.astro.network.bluetooth ASTRO: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.metago.astro AppBrain App Market: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.appspot.swisscodemonkeys.apps App Drawer Icon Pack: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.adwtheme.appdrawericonpack androidVNC: http://market.android.com/details?id=android.androidVNC AndroidGuys: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.handmark.mpp.AndroidGuys Android System Info: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.electricsheep.asi AndFTP: http://market.android.com/details?id=lysesoft.andftp ADWTheme Red: http://market.android.com/details?id=adw.theme.red ADWLauncher EX: http://market.android.com/details?id=org.adwfreak.launcher ADW.Theme.One: http://market.android.com/details?id=org.adw.theme.one ADW.Faded theme: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.xrcore.adwtheme.faded ADW Gingerbread: http://market.android.com/details?id=me.robertburns.android.adwtheme.gingerbread Advanced Task Killer Free: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.rechild.advancedtaskkiller Adobe Reader: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.adobe.reader Adobe Flash Player 10.1: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.adobe.flashplayer Adobe AIR: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.adobe.air 3G Auto OnOff: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.yuantuo --- Generated by ShareMyApps http://market.android.com/details?id=com.mattlary.shareMyApps Sent from my Droid

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, December 10, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, December 10, 2010Popular ReleasesFree Silverlight & WPF Chart Control - Visifire: Visifire Silverlight, WPF Charts v3.6.5 Released: Hi, Today we are releasing final version of Visifire, v3.6.5 with the following new feature: * New property AutoFitToPlotArea has been introduced in DataSeries. AutoFitToPlotArea will bring bubbles inside the PlotArea in order to avoid clipping of bubbles in bubble chart. You can visit Visifire documentation to know more. http://www.visifire.com/visifirechartsdocumentation.php Also this release includes few bug fixes: * Chart threw exception while adding new Axis in Chart using Vi...PHPExcel: PHPExcel 1.7.5 Production: DonationsDonate via PayPal via PayPal. If you want to, we can also add your name / company on our Donation Acknowledgements page. PEAR channelWe now also have a full PEAR channel! Here's how to use it: New installation: pear channel-discover pear.pearplex.net pear install pearplex/PHPExcel Or if you've already installed PHPExcel before: pear upgrade pearplex/PHPExcel The official page can be found at http://pearplex.net. Want to contribute?Please refer the Contribute page.UserVoice Helper for WebMatrix: UserVoice Helper v0.9: This version will work with ASP.NET WebPages and ASP.NET MVC ApplicationsDNN Simple Article: DNNSimpleArticle Module V00.00.03: The initial release of the DNNSimpleArticle module (labelled V00.00.03) There are C# and VB versions of this module for this initial release. No promises that going forward there will be packages for both languages provided for future releases. This module provides the following functionality Create and display articles Display a paged list of articles Articles get created as DNN ContentItems Categorization provided through DNN Taxonomy SEO functionality for article display providi...UOB & ME: UOB_ME 2.5: latest versionCouchDB.NET: CouchDB.NET 0.1: CouchDB.NET ------- Libraries and providers to use CouchDB features from .NET This distribution includes the following projects: - MachineKeyGenerator: Command line tool to generate a machine key string for use in App.Config and Web.Config files. - CouchDB.NET: Library to facilitate the use of CouchDB features. It uses Hadi Hariri's EasyHttp library to communicate with the CouchDB server. More info at: https://github.com/hhariri/EasyHttp - CouchDb.ASP.NET: ASP.NET Membership Provider and ASP...AutoLoL: AutoLoL v1.4.3: AutoLoL now supports importing the build pages from Mobafire.com as well! Just insert the url to the build and voila. (For example: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/unforgivens-guide-how-to-build-a-successful-mordekaiser-24061) Stable release of AutoChat (It is still recommended to use with caution and to read the documentation) It is now possible to associate *.lolm files with AutoLoL to quickly open them The selected spells are now displayed in the masteries tab for qu...SubtitleTools: SubtitleTools 1.2: - Added auto insertion of RLE (RIGHT-TO-LEFT EMBEDDING) Unicode character for the RTL languages. - Fixed delete rows issue.PHP Manager for IIS: PHP Manager 1.1 for IIS 7: This is a final stable release of PHP Manager 1.1 for IIS 7. This is a minor incremental release that contains all the functionality available in 53121 plus additional features listed below: Improved detection logic for existing PHP installations. Now PHP Manager detects the location to php.ini file in accordance to the PHP specifications Configuring date.timezone. PHP Manager can automatically set the date.timezone directive which is required to be set starting from PHP 5.3 Ability to ...Algorithmia: Algorithmia 1.1: Algorithmia v1.1, released on December 8th, 2010.SuperSocket, an extensible socket application framework: SuperSocket 1.0 SP1: Fixed bugs: fixed a potential bug that the running state hadn't been updated after socket server stopped fixed a synchronization issue when clearing timeout session fixed a bug in ArraySegmentList fixed a bug on getting configuration valueCslaGenFork: CslaGenFork 4.0 CTP 2: The version is 4.0.1 CTP2 and was released 2010 December 7 and includes the following files: CslaGenFork 4.0.1-2010-12-07 Setup.msi Templates-2010-10-07.zip For getting started instructions, refer to How to section. Overview of the changes Since CTP1 there were 53 work items closed (28 features, 24 issues and 1 task). During this 60 days a lot of work has been done on several areas. First the stereotypes: EditableRoot is OK EditableChild is OK EditableRootCollection is OK Editable...My Web Pages Starter Kit: 1.3.1 Production Release (Security HOTFIX): Due to a critical security issue, it's strongly advised to update the My Web Pages Starter Kit to this version. Possible attackers could misuse the image upload to transmit any type of file to the website. If you already have a running version of My Web Pages Starter Kit 1.3.0, you can just replace the ftb.imagegallery.aspx file in the root directory with the one attached to this release.EnhSim: EnhSim 2.2.0 ALPHA: 2.2.0 ALPHAThis release adds in the changes for 4.03a. at level 85 To use this release, you must have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package installed. This can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=A7B7A05E-6DE6-4D3A-A423-37BF0912DB84 To use the GUI you must have the .NET 4.0 Framework installed. This can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9cfb2d51-5ff4-4491-b0e5-b386f32c0992 - Updated En...ASP.NET MVC Project Awesome (jQuery Ajax helpers): 1.4: A rich set of helpers (controls) that you can use to build highly responsive and interactive Ajax-enabled Web applications. These helpers include Autocomplete, AjaxDropdown, Lookup, Confirm Dialog, Popup Form, Popup and Pager new stuff: popup WhiteSpaceFilterAttribute tested on mozilla, safari, chrome, opera, ie 9b/8/7/6nopCommerce. ASP.NET open source shopping cart: nopCommerce 1.90: To see the full list of fixes and changes please visit the release notes page (http://www.nopCommerce.com/releasenotes.aspx).myCollections: Version 1.2: New in version 1.2: Big performance improvement. New Design (Added Outlook style View, New detail view, New Groub By...) Added Sort by Media Added Manage Movie Studio Zoom preference is now saved. Media name are now editable. Added Portuguese version You can now Hide details panel Add support for FLAC tags You can now imports books from BibTex Xml file BugFixingmytrip.mvc (CMS & e-Commerce): mytrip.mvc 1.0.49.0 beta: mytrip.mvc 1.0.49.0 beta web Web for install hosting System Requirements: NET 4.0, MSSQL 2008 or MySql (auto creation table to database) if .\SQLEXPRESS auto creation database (App_Data folder) mytrip.mvc 1.0.49.0 beta src System Requirements: Visual Studio 2010 or Web Deweloper 2010 MSSQL 2008 or MySql (auto creation table to database) if .\SQLEXPRESS auto creation database (App_Data folder) Connector/Net 6.3.4, MVC3 RC WARNING For run and debug mytrip.mvc 1.0.49.0 beta src download and ...Menu and Context Menu for Silverlight 4.0: Silverlight Menu and Context Menu v2.3 Beta: - Added keyboard navigation support with access keys - Shortcuts like Ctrl-Alt-A are now supported(where the browser permits it) - The PopupMenuSeparator is now completely based on the PopupMenuItem class - Moved item manipulation code to a partial class in PopupMenuItemsControl.cs - Moved menu management and keyboard navigation code to the new PopupMenuManager class - Simplified the layout by removing the RootGrid element(all content is now placed in OverlayCanvas and is accessed by the new ...MiniTwitter: 1.62: MiniTwitter 1.62 ???? ?? ??????????????????????????????????????? 140 ?????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ?? ??????????????????????????????????New ProjectsAccountingGuid: for testing onlyChinese Nag Screen: This is a simple but effective program for learning to recognize Mandarin characters. The application sits in the system tray and displays a character random through your day. You can only get rid of it by typing in the pinyin.CouchDB.NET: .NET libraries to use CouchDB from .NET. Included are Membership and Roles provider so that you may use CouchDB as your integrated DB backend on your ASP.NET projects. Please see the readme.txt file for instructions.DataSetMapper: The idea behind DataSetMapper is to provide support for the automatic mapping of legacy DataSet based structures to proper domain objects. In essence the aim is to create the Mapping aspect of an ORM without the persistence concerns.EasyXnaAudio: EasyXnaAudio is a simple component for use in XNA Game Studio 3.1/4.0 projects that provides an easy interface to load, play, and manage songs and sounds in your game.FixMailboxSD - Exchange Mailbox Security Descriptor Canonicalizer: This is a small utility to fix mailbox security descriptors in Microsoft Exchange that have become non-canonical. It must be run on a machine with Exchange System Manager for Exchange 2003 installed, but it will work against mailboxes on 2003 or 2007 (not 2010).GearSynth Plugin: a plugin for graphsynth that makes gear trainsGroceryList: TBD with first versionIBMS Suite Build on the Associate Platform: A new way of approaching Information Systems. From the UI, users of the IS will be able to build and manipulate the IS to whatever way fits their needs. We have simplified development, removed the chasm between management and IT and give the power of simplification to the user!Ivy Nasha Framework: A PHP FrameworkjQuery helpers for ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC: jQuery helpers makes it easier for ASP.NET developers to build jQuery scripts. It's developed in C#. JSTest.NET: JSTest.NET enabled JavaScript unit tests to be run directly in the test framework of your choice (MSTest, NUnit, xUnit, etc) and all without the need for a web browser. JSTest.NET utilizes the Windows Script Host (CScript) to run fast, fully debuggable JavaScript unit tests!Multicore Task Framework: MTF is a visual tool to simplify building robust component based .NET applications. MTF is designed to make full use of the power of multi-core processors.Nazha Script On DLR: NazhaPascalESE - a Delphi/Pascal class library for Microsoft ESENT database API: This pascal class library, primarily written for Delphi's Object Pascal, provides a lightweight and easy-to-use wrapper around the ESENT API. Perpetuum Hangar: A Character planner for the online game "Perpetuum"Projeto Exemplo: Projeto exemplo para a atividade 3 da disciplina.PSiteCode: PSiteCode Manager rScript Engine: rScript scripting engine is a managed script engine wrote in C# that supports Visual Basic and C# syntax based scripts. It provides Type's for dynamically getting and setting properties, invoking methods and run-time compilation of scripts.SharePoint 2010 User Profile WebPart: This webpart shows all user profile properties and values of the properties for a particular user profile. The results are shown in a table containing the display and technical name together with the user value.SHC: shriSHMTools: SHMTools is set of compatible software tools (mostly Matlab based) for structural health monitoring (SHM) research. This includes algorithms for system design, modeling, data acquisition, feature extraction, classification, and prognosis.SwapWin: SwapWin is a tiny and handy tool which swaps windows on different screens. Developed in C# and .NET 3.5.Teachers Diary: Teachers diary is application realizing electronic teacher's notepad with student marks. Current localization of the application is in czech language only.VkApp: Vk app for downloadingWebSpirit: A lightweighted web server implemented by C# which supports sufficient extendible feature. By zjuWPF & MEF Studio: WPF & MEF Studio

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• TFS, G.I. Joe and Under-doing

  If I were to rank the most consistently irritating parts of my work day, using TFS would come in first by a wide margin. Even repeated network outages this week seem like a pleasant reprieve from this monolithic beast. This is not a reflexive anti-Microsoft feeling, that attitude just wouldnt work for a consultant who does .NET development. It is also not an utter dismissal of TFS as worthless; Ive seen people use it effectively on several projects. So why? Ill start with a laundry list of shortcomings. An out of the box UI for work items that is insultingly bad, a source control system that is confoundingly fragile when handling merges, folder renames and long file names, the arcane XML wizardry necessary to customize a template and a build system that adds an extra layer of oddness on top of msbuild. Im sure my legion of readers will soon point out to me how I can work around all these issues, how this is fixed in TFS 2010 or with this add-in, and how once you have everything set up, youre fine. And theyd be right, any one of these problems could be worked around. If not dirty laundry, what else? I thought about it for a while, and came to the conclusion that TFS is so irritating to me because it represents a vision of software development that I find unappealing. To expand upon this, lets start with some wisdom from those great PSAs at the end of the G.I. Joe cartoons of the 80s: Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. In software development, Id go further and say knowing is more than half the battle. Understanding the dimensions of the problem you are trying to solve, the needs of the users, the value that your software can provide are more than half the battle. Implementation of this understanding is not easy, but it is not even possible without this knowledge. Assuming we have a fixed amount of time and mental energy for any project, why does this spell trouble for TFS? If you think about what TFS is doing, its offering you a huge array of options to track the day to day implementation of your project. From tasks, to code churn, to test coverage. All valuable metrics, but only in exchange for valuable time to get it all working. In addition, when you have a shiny toy like TFS, the temptation is to feel obligated to use it. So the push from TFS is to encourage a project manager and team to focus on process and metrics around process. You can get great visibility, and graphs to show your project stakeholders, but none of that is important if you are not implementing the right product. Not just unimportant, these activities can be harmful as they drain your time and sap your creativity away from the rest of the project. To be more concrete, lets suppose your organization has invested the time to create a template for your projects and trained people in how to use it, so there is no longer a big investment of time for each project to get up and running. First, Id challenge if that template could be specific enough to be full featured and still applicable for any project. Second, the very existence of this template would be a indication to a project manager that the success of their project was somehow directly related to fitting management of that project into this format. Again, while the capabilities are wonderful, the mirage is there; just get everything into TFS and your project will run smoothly. Ill close the loop on this first topic by proposing a thought experiment. Think of the projects youve worked on. How many times have you been chagrined to discover youve implemented the wrong feature, misunderstood how a feature should work or just plain spent too much time on a screen that nobody uses? That sounds like a really worthwhile area to invest time in improving. How about going back to these projects and thinking about how many times you wished you had optimized the state change flow of your tasks or been embarrassed to not have a code churn report linked back to the latest changeset? With thanks to the Real American Heroes, Ill move on to a more current influence, that of the developers at 37signals, and their philosophy towards software development. This philosophy, fully detailed in the books Getting Real and Rework, is a vision of software that under does the competition. This is software that is deliberately limited in functionality in order to concentrate fully on making sure ever feature that is there is awesome and needed. Why is this relevant? Well, in one of those fun seeming paradoxes in life, constraints can be a spark for creativity. Think Twitter, the small screen of an iPhone, the limitations of HTML for applications, the low memory limits of older or embedded system. As long as there is some freedom within those constraints, amazing things emerge. For project management, some of the most respected people in the industry recommend using just index cards, pens and tape. They argue that with change the constant in software development, your process should be as limited (yet rigorous) as possible. Looking at TFS, this is not a system designed to under do anybody. It is a big jumble of components and options, with every feature you could think of. Predictably this means many basic functions are hard to use. For task management, many people just use an Excel spreadsheet linked up to TFS. Not a stirring endorsement of the tooling there. TFS as a whole would be far more appealing to me if there was less of it, but better. Id cut 50% of the features to make the other half really amaze and inspire me. And thats really the heart of the matter. TFS has great promise and I want to believe it can work better. But ultimately it focuses your attention on a lot of stuff that doesnt really matter and then clamps down your creativity in a mess of forms and dialogs obscuring what does.   --- Relevant Links --- All those great G.I. Joe PSAs are on YouTube, including lots of mashed up versions. A simple Google search will get you on the right track.Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• Interview with Lenz Grimmer about MySQL Connect

  - by Keith Larson

  Keith Larson: Thank you for allowing me to do this interview with you.  I have been talking with a few different Oracle ACEs   about the MySQL Connect Conference. I figured the MySQL community might be missing you as well. You have been very busy with Oracle Linux but I know you still have an eye on the MySQL Community. How have things been?Lenz Grimmer: Thanks for including me in this series of interviews, I feel honored! I've read the other interviews, and really liked them. I still try to follow what's going on over in the MySQL community and it's good to see that many of the familiar faces are still around. Over the course of the 9 years that I was involved with MySQL, many colleagues and contacts turned into good friends and we still maintain close relationships.It's been almost 1.5 years ago that I moved into my new role here in the Linux team at Oracle, and I really enjoy working on a Linux distribution again (I worked for SUSE before I joined MySQL AB in 2002). I'm still learning a lot - Linux in the data center has greatly evolved in so many ways and there are a lot of new and exciting technologies to explore. Keith Larson: What were your thoughts when you heard that Oracle was going to deliver the MySQL Connect conference to the MySQL Community?Lenz Grimmer: I think it's testament to the fact that Oracle deeply cares about MySQL, despite what many skeptics may say. What started as "MySQL Sunday" two years ago has now evolved into a full-blown sub-conference, with 80 sessions at one of the largest corporate IT events in the world. I find this quite telling, not many products at Oracle enjoy this level of exposure! So it certainly makes me feel proud to see how far MySQL has come. Keith Larson: Have you had a chance to look over the sessions? What are your thoughts on them?Lenz Grimmer: I did indeed look at the final schedule.The content committee did a great job with selecting these sessions. I'm glad to see that the content selection was influenced by involving well-known and respected members of the MySQL community. The sessions cover a broad range of topics and technologies, both covering established topics as well as recent developments. Keith Larson: When you get a chance, what sessions do you plan on attending?Lenz Grimmer: I will actually be manning the Oracle booth in the exhibition area on one of these days, so I'm not sure if I'll have a lot of time attending sessions. But if I do, I'd love to see the keynotes and catch some of the sessions that talk about recent developments and new features in MySQL, High Availability and Clustering . Quite a lot has happened and it's hard to keep up with this constant flow of new MySQL releases.In particular, the following sessions caught my attention: MySQL Connect Keynote: The State of the Dolphin Evaluating MySQL High-Availability Alternatives CERN’s MySQL “as a Service” Deployment with Oracle VM: Empowering Users MySQL 5.6 Replication: Taking Scalability and High Availability to the Next Level What’s New in MySQL Server 5.6? MySQL Security: Past and Present MySQL at Twitter: Development and Deployment MySQL Community BOF MySQL Connect Keynote: MySQL Perspectives Keith Larson: So I will ask you just like I have asked the others I have interviewed, any tips that you would give to people for handling the long hours at conferences?Lenz Grimmer: Wear comfortable shoes and make sure to drink a lot! Also prepare a plan of the sessions you would like to attend beforehand and familiarize yourself with the venue, so you can get to the next talk in time without scrambling to find the location. The good thing about piggybacking on such a large conference like Oracle OpenWorld is that you benefit from the whole infrastructure. For example, there is a nice schedule builder that helps you to keep track of your sessions of interest. Other than that, bring enough business cards and talk to people, build up your network among your peers and other MySQL professionals! Keith Larson: What features of the MySQL 5.6 release do you look forward to the most ?Lenz Grimmer: There has been solid progress in so many areas like the InnoDB Storage Engine, the Optimizer, Replication or Performance Schema, it's hard for me to really highlight anything in particular. All in all, MySQL 5.6 sounds like a very promising release. I'm confident it will follow the tradition that Oracle already established with MySQL 5.5, which received a lot of praise even from very critical members of the MySQL community. If I had to name a single feature, I'm particularly and personally happy that the precise GIS functions have finally made it into a GA release - that was long overdue. Keith Larson:  In your opinion what is the best reason for someone to attend this event?Lenz Grimmer: This conference is an excellent opportunity to get in touch with the key people in the MySQL community and ecosystem and to get facts and information from the domain experts and developers that work on MySQL. The broad range of topics should attract people from a variety of roles and relations to MySQL, beginning with Developers and DBAs, to CIOs considering MySQL as a viable solution for their requirements. Keith Larson: You will be attending MySQL Connect and have some Oracle Linux Demos, do you see a growing demand for MySQL on Oracle Linux ?Lenz Grimmer: Yes! Oracle Linux is our recommended Linux distribution and we have a good relationship to the MySQL engineering group. They use Oracle Linux as a base Linux platform for development and QA, so we make sure that MySQL and Oracle Linux are well tested together. Setting up a MySQL server on Oracle Linux can be done very quickly, and many customers recognize the benefits of using them both in combination.Because Oracle Linux is available for free (including free bug fixes and errata), it's an ideal choice for running MySQL in your data center. You can run the same Linux distribution on both your development/staging systems as well as on the production machines, you decide which of these should be covered by a support subscription and at which level of support. This gives you flexibility and provides some really attractive cost-saving opportunities. Keith Larson: Since I am a Linux user and fan, what is on the horizon for  Oracle Linux?Lenz Grimmer: We're working hard on broadening the ecosystem around Oracle Linux, building up partnerships with ISVs and IHVs to certify Oracle Linux as a fully supported platform for their products. We also continue to collaborate closely with the Linux kernel community on various projects, to make sure that Linux scales and performs well on large systems and meets the demands of today's data centers. These improvements and enhancements will then rolled into the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel, which is the key ingredient that sets Oracle Linux apart from other distributions. We also have a number of ongoing projects which are making good progress, and I'm sure you'll hear more about this at the upcoming OpenWorld conference :) Keith Larson: What is something that more people should be aware of when it comes to Oracle Linux and MySQL ?Lenz Grimmer: Many people assume that Oracle Linux is just tuned for Oracle products, such as the Oracle Database or our Engineered Systems. While it's of course true that we do a lot of testing and optimization for these workloads, Oracle Linux is and will remain a general-purpose Linux distribution that is a very good foundation for setting up a LAMP-Stack, for example. We also provide MySQL RPM packages for Oracle Linux, so you can easily stay up to date if you need something newer than what's included in the stock distribution.One more thing that is really unique to Oracle Linux is Ksplice, which allows you to apply security patches to the running Linux kernel, without having to reboot. This ensures that your MySQL database server keeps up and running and is not affected by any downtime. Keith Larson: What else would you like to add ?Lenz Grimmer: Thanks again for getting in touch with me, I appreciated the opportunity. I'm looking forward to MySQL Connect and Oracle OpenWorld and to meet you and many other people from the MySQL community that I haven't seen for quite some time! Keith Larson:  Thank you Lenz!

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• Dual head setup for Ubuntu 10.04.1 and Windows XP Pro with same hardware configuration

  - by mejpark

  Hello. I have a Dell OptiPlex 360 workstation at work, with 2 x ATI RV280 [Radeon 9200 PRO] graphics cards installed, which are attached to two identical 19" HII flat panel monitors. I'm using the open source Radeon driver with Ubuntu, and the proprietary drivers with Windows. The good news is that dual head configuration works for both OSes. The bad news is, I have to use a different hardware configuration for each OS to achieve this. Hardware config #1: Dual monitors work for Windows XP Pro like this: First display -> external VGA port Second display -> DVI input on gfx card Hardware config #2: Dual monitors work for Ubuntu 10.04.1 like this: First display -> VGA port on gfx card Second display -> DVI input on gfx card I connected up the displays according to Config #2 and booted up Windows, which resulted in a mirror image on both screens. I was unable to login, as the login box was not visible. I unplugged the VGA lead from gfx card and plugged it into the external VGA port (Config #1) - Windows dual head works again, but the VGA-connected screen is not recognised by Ubuntu and remains in standby mode. Is it possible to configure a dual head setup for Ubuntu using Config #1, or am I missing something? I tried setting up dual monitors using Config #1, this morning which didn't work. By default, there is no xorg.conf file in Ubuntu 10.04.1, so I generated one using: $ sudo X :2 -configure X.Org X Server 1.7.6 Release Date: 2010-03-17 X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0 Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.24-27-server i686 Ubuntu Current Operating System: Linux harrier 2.6.32-24-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Aug 20 14:24:04 UTC 2010 i686 Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=a34c1931-98d4-4a34-880c-c227a2936c4a ro quiet splash Build Date: 21 July 2010 12:47:34PM xorg-server 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7.3 (For technical support please see http://www.ubuntu.com/support) Current version of pixman: 0.16.4 Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org to make sure that you have the latest version. Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting, (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational, (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown. (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.2.log", Time: Mon Sep 13 10:02:02 2010 List of video drivers: apm ark intel mach64 s3virge trident mga tseng ati nouveau neomagic i740 openchrome voodoo s3 i128 radeon siliconmotion nv ztv vmware v4l chips rendition savage sisusb tdfx geode sis r128 cirrus fbdev vesa (++) Using config file: "/home/michael/xorg.conf.new" (==) Using config directory: "/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d" (II) [KMS] No DRICreatePCIBusID symbol, no kernel modesetting. Xorg detected your mouse at device /dev/input/mice. Please check your config if the mouse is still not operational, as by default Xorg tries to autodetect the protocol. Xorg has configured a multihead system, please check your config. Your xorg.conf file is /home/michael/xorg.conf.new To test the server, run 'X -config /home/michael/xorg.conf.new' ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log $ sudo X -config /home/michael/xorg.conf.new Fatal server error: Server is already active for display 0 If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock and start again. Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support at http://wiki.x.org for help. ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log I then booted Ubuntu in failsafe mode, dropped into root shell, and executed $ X -config /home/michael/xorg.conf.new again. The screen went blank and turned off, so I reset the machine. There must be a way round this. Any help to set up a dual head config for Ubuntu using Config #1 would be hugely appreciated. TIA, Mike

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• Big Data – Is Big Data Relevant to me? – Big Data Questionnaires – Guest Post by Vinod Kumar

  - by Pinal Dave

  This guest post is by Vinod Kumar. Vinod Kumar has worked with SQL Server extensively since joining the industry over a decade ago. Working on various versions of SQL Server 7.0, Oracle 7.3 and other database technologies – he now works with the Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) as a Technology Architect. Let us read the blog post in Vinod’s own voice. I think the series from Pinal is a good one for anyone planning to start on Big Data journey from the basics. In my daily customer interactions this buzz of “Big Data” always comes up, I react generally saying – “Sir, do you really have a ‘Big Data’ problem or do you have a big Data problem?” Generally, there is a silence in the air when I ask this question. Data is everywhere in organizations – be it big data, small data, all data and for few it is bad data which is same as no data :). Wow, don’t discount me as someone who opposes “Big Data”, I am a big supporter as much as I am a critic of the abuse of this term by the people. In this post, I wanted to let my mind flow so that you can also think in the direction I want you to see these concepts. In any case, this is not an exhaustive dump of what is in my mind – but you will surely get the drift how I am going to question Big Data terms from customers!!! Is Big Data Relevant to me? Many of my customers talk to me like blank whiteboard with no idea – “why Big Data”. They want to jump into the bandwagon of technology and they want to decipher insights from their unexplored data a.k.a. unstructured data with structured data. So what are these industry scenario’s that come to mind? Here are some of them: Financials Fraud detection: Banks and Credit cards are monitoring your spending habits on real-time basis. Customer Segmentation: applies in every industry from Banking to Retail to Aviation to Utility and others where they deal with end customer who consume their products and services. Customer Sentiment Analysis: Responding to negative brand perception on social or amplify the positive perception. Sales and Marketing Campaign: Understand the impact and get closer to customer delight. Call Center Analysis: attempt to take unstructured voice recordings and analyze them for content and sentiment. Medical Reduce Re-admissions: How to build a proactive follow-up engagements with patients. Patient Monitoring: How to track Inpatient, Out-Patient, Emergency Visits, Intensive Care Units etc. Preventive Care: Disease identification and Risk stratification is a very crucial business function for medical. Claims fraud detection: There is no precise dollars that one can put here, but this is a big thing for the medical field. Retail Customer Sentiment Analysis, Customer Care Centers, Campaign Management. Supply Chain Analysis: Every sensors and RFID data can be tracked for warehouse space optimization. Location based marketing: Based on where a check-in happens retail stores can be optimize their marketing. Telecom Price optimization and Plans, Finding Customer churn, Customer loyalty programs Call Detail Record (CDR) Analysis, Network optimizations, User Location analysis Customer Behavior Analysis Insurance Fraud Detection & Analysis, Pricing based on customer Sentiment Analysis, Loyalty Management Agents Analysis, Customer Value Management This list can go on to other areas like Utility, Manufacturing, Travel, ITES etc. So as you can see, there are obviously interesting use cases for each of these industry verticals. These are just representative list. Where to start? A lot of times I try to quiz customers on a number of dimensions before starting a Big Data conversation. Are you getting the data you need the way you want it and in a timely manner? Can you get in and analyze the data you need? How quickly is IT to respond to your BI Requests? How easily can you get at the data that you need to run your business/department/project? How are you currently measuring your business? Can you get the data you need to react WITHIN THE QUARTER to impact behaviors to meet your numbers or is it always “rear-view mirror?” How are you measuring: The Brand Customer Sentiment Your Competition Your Pricing Your performance Supply Chain Efficiencies Predictive product / service positioning What are your key challenges of driving collaboration across your global business?  What the challenges in innovation? What challenges are you facing in getting more information out of your data? Note: Garbage-in is Garbage-out. Hold good for all reporting / analytics requirements Big Data POCs? A number of customers get into the realm of setting a small team to work on Big Data – well it is a great start from an understanding point of view, but I tend to ask a number of other questions to such customers. Some of these common questions are: To what degree is your advanced analytics (natural language processing, sentiment analysis, predictive analytics and classification) paired with your Big Data’s efforts? Do you have dedicated resources exploring the possibilities of advanced analytics in Big Data for your business line? Do you plan to employ machine learning technology while doing Advanced Analytics? How is Social Media being monitored in your organization? What is your ability to scale in terms of storage and processing power? Do you have a system in place to sort incoming data in near real time by potential value, data quality, and use frequency? Do you use event-driven architecture to manage incoming data? Do you have specialized data services that can accommodate different formats, security, and the management requirements of multiple data sources? Is your organization currently using or considering in-memory analytics? To what degree are you able to correlate data from your Big Data infrastructure with that from your enterprise data warehouse? Have you extended the role of Data Stewards to include ownership of big data components? Do you prioritize data quality based on the source system (that is Facebook/Twitter data has lower quality thresholds than radio frequency identification (RFID) for a tracking system)? Do your retention policies consider the different legal responsibilities for storing Big Data for a specific amount of time? Do Data Scientists work in close collaboration with Data Stewards to ensure data quality? How is access to attributes of Big Data being given out in the organization? Are roles related to Big Data (Advanced Analyst, Data Scientist) clearly defined? How involved is risk management in the Big Data governance process? Is there a set of documented policies regarding Big Data governance? Is there an enforcement mechanism or approach to ensure that policies are followed? Who is the key sponsor for your Big Data governance program? (The CIO is best) Do you have defined policies surrounding the use of social media data for potential employees and customers, as well as the use of customer Geo-location data? How accessible are complex analytic routines to your user base? What is the level of involvement with outside vendors and third parties in regard to the planning and execution of Big Data projects? What programming technologies are utilized by your data warehouse/BI staff when working with Big Data? These are some of the important questions I ask each customer who is actively evaluating Big Data trends for their organizations. These questions give you a sense of direction where to start, what to use, how to secure, how to analyze and more. Sign off Any Big data is analysis is incomplete without a compelling story. The best way to understand this is to watch Hans Rosling – Gapminder (2:17 to 6:06) videos about the third world myths. Don’t get overwhelmed with the Big Data buzz word, the destination to what your data speaks is important. In this blog post, we did not particularly look at any Big Data technologies. This is a set of questionnaire one needs to keep in mind as they embark their journey of Big Data. I did write some of the basics in my blog: Big Data – Big Hype yet Big Opportunity. Do let me know if these questions make sense?  Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: Big Data, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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• eBooks on iPad vs. Kindle: More Debate than Smackdown

  - by andrewbrust

  When the iPad was presented at its San Francisco launch event on January 28th, Steve Jobs spent a significant amount of time explaining how well the device would serve as an eBook reader. He showed the iBooks reader application and iBookstore and laid down the gauntlet before Amazon and its beloved Kindle device. Almost immediately afterwards, criticism came rushing forth that the iPad could never beat the Kindle for book reading. The curious part of that criticism is that virtually no one offering it had actually used the iPad yet. A few weeks later, on April 3rd, the iPad was released for sale in the United States. I bought one on that day and in the few additional weeks that have elapsed, I’ve given quite a workout to most of its capabilities, including its eBook features. I’ve also spent some time with the Kindle, albeit a first-generation model, to see how it actually compares to the iPad. I had some expectations going in, but I came away with conclusions about each device that were more scenario-based than absolute. I present my findings to you here.   Vital Statistics Let’s start with an inventory of each device’s underlying technology. The iPad has a color, backlit LCD screen and an on-screen keyboard. It has a battery which, on a full charge, lasts anywhere from 6-10 hours. The Kindle offers a monochrome, reflective E Ink display, a physical keyboard and a battery that on my first gen loaner unit can go up to a week between charges (Amazon claims the battery on the Kindle 2 can last up to 2 weeks on a single charge). The Kindle connects to Amazon’s Kindle Store using a 3G modem (the technology and network vary depending on the model) that incurs no airtime service charges whatsoever. The iPad units that are on-sale today work over WiFi only. 3G-equipped models will be on sale shortly and will command a $130 premium over their WiFi-only counterparts. 3G service on the iPad, in the U.S. from AT&T, will be fee-based, with a 250MB plan at $14.99 per month and an unlimited plan at $29.99. No contract is required for 3G service. All these tech specs aside, I think a more useful observation is that the iPad is a multi-purpose Internet-connected entertainment device, while the Kindle is a dedicated reading device. The question is whether those differences in design and intended use create a clear-cut winner for reading electronic publications. Let’s take a look at each device, in isolation, now.   Kindle To me, what’s most innovative about the Kindle is its E Ink display. E Ink really looks like ink on a sheet of paper. It requires no backlight, it’s fully visible in direct sunlight and it causes almost none of the eyestrain that LCD-based computer display technology (like that used on the iPad) does. It’s really versatile in an all-around way. Forgive me if this sounds precious, but reading on it is really a joy. In fact, it’s a genuinely relaxing experience. Through the Kindle Store, Amazon allows users to download books (including audio books), magazines, newspapers and blog feeds. Books and magazines can be purchased either on a single-issue basis or as an annual subscription. Books, of course, are purchased singly. Oddly, blogs are not free, but instead carry a monthly subscription fee, typically $1.99. To me this is ludicrous, but I suppose the free 3G service is partially to blame. Books and magazine issues download quickly. Magazine and blog subscriptions cause new issues or posts to be pushed to your device on an automated basis. Available blogs include 9000-odd feeds that Amazon offers on the Kindle Store; unless I missed something, arbitrary RSS feeds are not supported (though there are third party workarounds to this limitation). The shopping experience is integrated well, has an huge selection, and offers certain graphical perks. For example, magazine and newspaper logos are displayed in menus, and book cover thumbnails appear as well. A simple search mechanism is provided and text entry through the physical keyboard is relatively painless. It’s very easy and straightforward to enter the store, find something you like and start reading it quickly. If you know what you’re looking for, it’s even faster. Given Kindle’s high portability, very reliable battery, instant-on capability and highly integrated content acquisition, it makes reading on whim, and in random spurts of downtime, very attractive. The Kindle’s home screen lists all of your publications, and easily lets you select one, then start reading it. Once opened, publications display in crisp, attractive text that is adjustable in size. “Turning” pages is achieved through buttons dedicated to the task. Notes can be recorded, bookmarks can be saved and pages can be saved as clippings. I am not an avid book reader, and yet I found the Kindle made it really fun, convenient and soothing to read. There’s something about the easy access to the material and the simplicity of the display that makes the Kindle seduce you into chilling out and reading page after page. On the other hand, the Kindle has an awkward navigation interface. While menus are displayed clearly on the screen, the method of selecting menu items is tricky: alongside the right-hand edge of the main display is a thin column that acts as a second display. It has a white background, and a scrollable silver cursor that is moved up or down through the use of the device’s scrollwheel. Picking a menu item on the main display involves scrolling the silver cursor to a position parallel to that menu item and pushing the scrollwheel in. This navigation technique creates a disconnect, literally. You don’t really click on a selection so much as you gesture toward it. I got used to this technique quickly, but I didn’t love it. It definitely created a kind of anxiety in me, making me feel the need to speed through menus and get to my destination document quickly. Once there, I could calm down and relax. Books are great on the Kindle. Magazines and newspapers much less so. I found the rendering of photographs, and even illustrations, to be unacceptably crude. For this reason, I expect that reading textbooks on the Kindle may leave students wanting. I found that the original flow and layout of any publication was sacrificed on the Kindle. In effect, browsing a magazine or newspaper was almost impossible. Reading the text of individual articles was enjoyable, but having to read this way made the whole experience much more “a la carte” than cohesive and thematic between articles. I imagine that for academic journals this is ideal, but for consumer publications it imposes a stripped-down, low-fidelity experience that evokes a sense of deprivation. In general, the Kindle is great for reading text. For just about anything else, especially activity that involves exploratory browsing, meandering and short-attention-span reading, it presents a real barrier to entry and adoption. Avid book readers will enjoy the Kindle (if they’re not already). It’s a great device for losing oneself in a book over long sittings. Multitaskers who are more interested in periodicals, be they online or off, will like it much less, as they will find compromise, and even sacrifice, to be palpable.   iPad The iPad is a very different device from the Kindle. While the Kindle is oriented to pages of text, the iPad orbits around applications and their interfaces. Be it the pinch and zoom experience in the browser, the rich media features that augment content on news and weather sites, or the ability to interact with social networking services like Twitter, the iPad is versatile. While it shares a slate-like form factor with the Kindle, it’s effectively an elegant personal computer. One of its many features is the iBook application and integration of the iBookstore. But it’s a multi-purpose device. That turns out to be good and bad, depending on what you’re reading. The iBookstore is great for browsing. It’s color, rich animation-laden user interface make it possible to shop for books, rather than merely search and acquire them. Unfortunately, its selection is rather sparse at the moment. If you’re looking for a New York Times bestseller, or other popular titles, you should be OK. If you want to read something more specialized, it’s much harder. Unlike the awkward navigation interface of the Kindle, the iPad offers a nearly flawless touch-screen interface that seduces the user into tinkering and kibitzing every bit as much as the Kindle lulls you into a deep, concentrated read. It’s a dynamic and interactive device, whereas the Kindle is static and passive. The iBook reader is slick and fun. Use the iPad in landscape mode and you can read the book in 2-up (left/right 2-page) display; use it in portrait mode and you can read one page at a time. Rather than clicking a hardware button to turn pages, you simply drag and wipe from right-to-left to flip the single or right-hand page. The page actually travels through an animated path as it would in a physical book. The intuitiveness of the interface is uncanny. The reader also accommodates saving of bookmarks, searching of the text, and the ability to highlight a word and look it up in a dictionary. Pages display brightly and clearly. They’re easy to read. But the backlight and the glare made me less comfortable than I was with the Kindle. The knowledge that completely different applications (including the Web and email and Twitter) were just a few taps away made me antsy and very tempted to task-switch. The knowledge that battery life is an issue created subtle discomfort. If the Kindle makes you feel like you’re in a library reading room, then the iPad makes you feel, at best, like you’re under fluorescent lights at a Barnes and Noble or Borders store. If you’re lucky, you’d be on a couch or at a reading table in the store, but you might also be standing up, in the aisles. Clearly, I didn’t find this conducive to focused and sustained reading. But that may have more to do with my own tendency to read periodicals far more than books, and my neurotic . And, truth be known, the book reading experience, when not explicitly compared to Kindle’s, was still pleasant. It is also important to point out that Kindle Store-sourced books can be read on the iPad through a Kindle reader application, from Amazon, specific to the device. This offered a less rich experience than the iBooks reader, but it was completely adequate. Despite the Kindle brand of the reader, however, it offered little in terms of simulating the reading experience on its namesake device. When it comes to periodicals, the iPad wins hands down. Magazines, even if merely scanned images of their print editions, read on the iPad in a way that felt similar to reading hard copy. The full color display, touch navigation and even the ability to render advertisements in their full glory makes the iPad a great way to read through any piece of work that is measured in pages, rather than chapters. There are many ways to get magazines and newspapers onto the iPad, including the Zinio reader, and publication-specific applications like the Wall Street Journal’s and Popular Science’s. The New York Times’ free Editors’ Choice application offers a Times Reader-like interface to a subset of the Gray Lady’s daily content. The completely Web-based but iPad-optimized Times Skimmer site (at www.nytimes.com/timesskimmer) works well too. Even conventional Web sites themselves can be read much like magazines, given the iPad’s ability to zoom in on the text and crop out advertisements on the margins. While the Kindle does have an experimental Web browser, it reminded me a lot of early mobile phone browsers, only in a larger size. For text-heavy sites with simple layout, it works fine. For just about anything else, it becomes more trouble than it’s worth. And given the way magazine articles make me think of things I want to look up online, I think that’s a real liability for the Kindle.   Summing Up What I came to realize is that the Kindle isn’t so much a computer or even an Internet device as it is a printer. While it doesn’t use physical paper, it still renders its content a page at a time, just like a laser printer does, and its output appears strikingly similar. You can read the rendered text, but you can’t interact with it in any way. That’s why the navigation requires a separate cursor display area. And because of the page-oriented rendering behavior, turning pages causes a flash on the display and requires a sometimes long pause before the next page is rendered. The good side of this is that once the page is generated, no battery power is required to display it. That makes for great battery life, optimal viewing under most lighting conditions (as long as there is some light) and low-eyestrain text-centric display of content. The Kindle is highly portable, has an excellent selection in its store and is refreshingly distraction-free. All of this is ideal for reading books. And iPad doesn’t offer any of it. What iPad does offer is versatility, variety, richness and luxury. It’s flush with accoutrements even if it’s low on focused, sustained text display. That makes it inferior to the Kindle for book reading. But that also makes it better than the Kindle for almost everything else. As such, and given that its book reading experience is still decent (even if not superior), I think the iPad will give Kindle a run for its money. True book lovers, and people on a budget, will want the Kindle. People with a robust amount of discretionary income may want both devices. Everyone else who is interested in a slate form factor e-reading device, especially if they also wish to have leisure-friendly Internet access, will likely choose the iPad exclusively. One thing is for sure: iPad has reduced Kindle’s market, and may have shifted its mass market potential to a mere niche play. If Amazon is smart, it will improve its iPad-based Kindle reader app significantly. It can then leverage the iPad channel as a significant market for the Kindle Store. After all, selling the eBooks themselves is what Amazon should care most about.

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• How to Organize a Programming Language Club

  - by Ben Griswold

  I previously noted that we started a language club at work.  You know, I searched around but I couldn’t find a copy of the How to Organize a Programming Language Club Handbook. Maybe it’s sold out?  Yes, Stack Overflow has quite a bit of information on how to learn and teach new languages and there’s also a good number of online tutorials which provide language introductions but I was interested in group learning.  After   two months of meetings, I present to you the Unofficial How to Organize a Programming Language Club Handbook.  1. Gauge interest. Start by surveying prospects. “Excuse me, smart-developer-whom-I-work-with-and-I-think-might-be-interested-in-learning-a-new-coding-language-with-me. Are you interested in learning a new language with me?” If you’re lucky, you work with a bunch of really smart folks who aren’t shy about teaching/learning in a group setting and you’ll have a collective interest in no time.  Simply suggesting the idea is the only effort required.  If you don’t work in this type of environment, maybe you should consider a new place of employment.  2. Make it official. Send out a “Welcome to the Club” email: There’s been talk of folks itching to learn new languages – Python, Scala, F# and Haskell to name a few.  Rather than taking on new languages alone, let’s learn in the open.  That’s right.  Let’s start a languages club.  We’ll have everything a real club needs – secret handshake, goofy motto and a high-and-mighty sense that we’re better than everybody else. T-shirts?  Hell YES!  Anyway, I’ve thrown this idea around the office and no one has laughed at me yet so please consider this your very official invitation to be in THE club. [Insert your ideas about how the club might be run, solicit feedback and suggestions, ask what other folks would like to get out the club, comment about club hazing practices and talk up the T-shirts even more. Finally, call out the languages you are interested in learning and ask the group for their list.] 3.  Send out invitations to the first meeting.  Don’t skimp!  Hallmark greeting cards for everyone.  Personalized.  Hearts over the I’s and everything.  Oh, and be sure to include the list of suggested languages with vote count.  Here the list of languages we are interested in: Python 5 Ruby 4 Objective-C 3 F# 2 Haskell 2 Scala 2 Ada 1 Boo 1 C# 1 Clojure 1 Erlang 1 Go 1 Pi 1 Prolog 1 Qt 1 4.  At the first meeting, there must be cake.  Lots of cake. And you should tackle some very important questions: Which language should we start with?  You can immediately go with the top vote getter or you could do as we did and designate each person to provide a high-level review of each of the proposed languages over the next two weeks.  After all presentations are completed, vote on the language. Our high-level review consisted of answers to a series of questions. Decide how often and where the group will meet.  We, for example, meet for a brown bag lunch every Wednesday.  Decide how you’re going to learn.  We determined that the best way to learn is to just dive in and write code.  After choosing our first language (Python), we talked about building an application, or performing coding katas, but we ultimately choose to complete a series of Project Euler problems.  We kept it simple – each member works out the same two problems each week in preparation of a code review the following Wednesday. 5.  Code, Review, Learn.  Prior to the weekly meeting, everyone uploads their solutions to our internal wiki.  Each Project Euler problem has a dedicated page.  In the meeting, we use a really fancy HD projector to show off each member’s solution.  It is very important to use an HD projector.  Again, don’t skimp!  Each code author speaks to their solution, everyone else comments, applauds, points fingers and laughs, etc.  As much as I’ve learned from solving the problems on my own, I’ve learned at least twice as much at the group code review.  6.  Rinse. Lather. Repeat.  We’ve hosted the language club for 7 weeks now.  The first meeting just set the stage.  The next two meetings provided a review of the languages followed by a first language selection.  The remaining meetings focused on Python and Project Euler problems.  Today we took a vote as to whether or not we’re ready to switch to another language and/or another problem set.  Pretty much everyone wants to stay the course for a few more weeks at least.  Until then, we’ll continue to code the next two solutions, review and learn. Again, we’ve been having a good time with the programming language club.  I’m glad it got off the ground.  What do you think?  Would you be interested in a language club?  Any suggestions on what we might do better?

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• Customize the Five Windows Folder Templates

  - by Mark Virtue

  Are you’re particular about the way Windows Explorer presents each folder’s contents? Here we show you how to take advantage of Explorer’s built-in templates, which cuts down the time it takes to do customizations. Note: The techniques in this article apply to Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7. When opening a folder for the first time in Windows Explorer, we are presented with a standard default view of the files and folders in that folder. It may be that the items are presented are perfectly fine, but on the other hand, we may want to customize the view.  The aspects of it that we can customize are the following: The display type (list view, details, tiles, thumbnails, etc) Which columns are displayed, and in which order The widths of the visible columns The order in which the files and folders are sorted Any file groupings Thankfully, Windows offers us a shortcut.  A particular folder’s settings can be used as a “template” for other, similar folders.  In fact, we can store up to five separate sets of folder presentation configurations.  Once we save the settings for a particular template, that template can then be applied to other folders. Customize Your First Folder We’ll start by setting up the first of our templates – the default one.  Once we create this template and apply it, the vast majority of the folders in our file system will change to match it, so it’s important that we set it up very carefully.  The first step in creating and applying the template is to customize one folder with the settings that all the rest will have. Choose a folder that is typical of the folders that you wish to have this default template.  Select it in Windows Explorer.  To ensure that it is a suitable candidate, right-click the folder name and select Properties, then go to the Customize tab.  Ensure that this folder is marked as General Items.  If it is not, either choose a different folder or select General Items from the list. Click OK.  Now we’re ready to customize our first folder. Changing the way one single folder is presented is straightforward.  We start with the folder’s display type.  Click the Change your view button in the top-right corner of every Explorer window. Each time you click the button, the folder’s view cycles to the next view type.  Alternatively you can click the little down-arrow next to the button to see all the display types at once, and select the one you want. Click the view you want, or drag the slider next to the one you want. If you have chosen Details, then the next thing you may wish to change is which columns are displayed, and the order of these.  To choose which columns are displayed, simply right-click on any column heading.  A list of the columns currently being display appears. Simply uncheck a column if you don’t want it displayed, and check the columns that you want displayed.  If you want some information displayed about your files that is not listed here, then click the More… button for a full list of file attributes. There’s a lot of them! To change the order of the columns that are currently being displayed, simply click on a column heading and drag it to where you think it should be.  To change the width of a column, click the line that represents the right-hand edge of the column and drag it left or right. To sort by a column, click once on that column.  To reverse the sort-order, click that same column again. To change the groupings of the files in the folder, right-click in a blank area of the folder, select Group by, and select the appropriate column. Apply This Default Template to All Similar Folders Once you have the folder exactly the way you want it, we now use this folder as our default template for most of the folders in our file system.  To do this, ensure that you are still in the folder you just customized, and then, from the Organize menu in Explorer, click on Folder and search options. Then select the View tab and click the Apply to Folders button. After you’ve clicked OK, visit some of the other folders in your file system.  You should see that most have taken on these new settings. What we’ve just done, in effect, is we have customized the General Items template.  This is one of five templates that Windows Explorer uses to display folder contents.  The five templates are called (in Windows 7): General Items Documents Pictures Music Videos When a folder is opened, Windows Explorer examines the contents to see if it can automatically determine which folder template to use to display the folder contents.  If it is not obvious that the folder contents falls into any of the last four templates, then Windows Explorer chooses the General Items template.  That’s why most of the folders in your file system are shown using the General Items template. Changing the Other Four Templates If you want to adjust the other four templates, the process is very similar to what we’ve just done.  If you wanted to change the “Music” template, for example, the steps would be as follows: Select a folder that contains music items Apply the existing Music template to the folder (even if it doesn’t look like you want it to) Customize the folder to your personal preferences Apply the new template to all “Music” folders A fifth step would be:  When you open a folder that contains music items but is not automatically displayed using the Music template, you manually select the Music template for that folder. First, select a folder that contains music items.  It will probably be displayed using the existing Music template: Next, ensure that it is using the Music template.  If it’s not, then manually select the Music template. Next, customize the folder to suit your personal preferences (here we’ve added a couple of columns, and sorted by Artist). Now we can set this view to be our Music template.  Choose Organize, then the View tab, and click the Apply to Folders button. Note: The only folders that will inherit these settings are the ones that are currently (or will soon be) using the Music template. Now, if you have any folder that contains music items, and you want it to inherit all of these settings, then right-click the folder name, choose Properties, and select that this folder should use the Music template.  You can also cehck the box entitled Also apply this template to all subfolders if you want to save yourself even more time with all the sub-folders. Conclusion It’s neat to be able to set up templates for your folder views like this.  It’s a shame that Microsoft didn’t take the concept just a little further and allow you to create as many templates as you want. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Fix For When Windows Explorer in Vista Stops Showing File NamesCustomize the Windows 7 or Vista Send To MenuFix for New Contact Group Button Not Displaying in VistaWhy Did Windows Vista’s Music Folder Icon Turn Yellow?Make Your Last Minute Holiday Cards with Microsoft Word TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Office 2010 reviewed in depth by Ed Bott FoxClocks adds World Times in your Statusbar (Firefox) Have Fun Editing Photo Editing with Citrify Outlook Connector Upgrade Error Gadfly is a cool Twitter/Silverlight app Enable DreamScene in Windows 7

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• Visiting the Emtel Data Centre

  Back in February at the first event of the Emtel Knowledge Series (EKS) I spoke to various people at Emtel about their data centre here on the island. I was trying to see whether it would be possible to arrange a meeting over there for a selected group of our community members. Well, let's say it like this... My first approach wasn't that promising and far from successful but during the following months there were more and more occasions to get in touch with the "right" contact persons at Emtel to make it happen... Setting up an appointment and pre-requisites The major improvement came during a Boot Camp for Windows Phone 8.1 App development organised by Microsoft Indian Ocean Islands in cooperation with Emtel at the Emtel World, Ebene. Apart from learning bits and pieces regarding Universal Apps I took the opportunity to get in touch with Arvin Lockee, Sales Executive - Data, during our lunch break. And this really kicked off the whole procedure. Prior to get access to the Emtel data centre it is requested that you provide full name and National ID of anyone going to visit. Also, it should be noted that there was only a limited amount of seats available. Anyways, packed with this information I posted through the usual social media channels. Responses came in very quickly and based on First-come, first-serve (FCFS) principle I noted down the details and forwarded them to Emtel in order to fix a date and time for the visit. In preparation on our side, all attendees exchanged contact details and we organised transport options to go to the data centre in Arsenal. The day before and on the day of our meeting, Arvin send me a reminder to check whether everything is still confirmed and ready to go... Of course, it was! Arriving at the Emtel Data Centre As I'm coming from Flic En Flac towards the North, we agreed that I'm going to pick up a couple of young fellows near the old post office in Port Louis. All went well, except that Sean eventually might be living in another time zone compared to the rest of us. Anyway, after some extended stop we were complete and arrived just in time in Arsenal to meet and greet with Ish and Veer. Again, Emtel is taking access procedures to their data centre very serious and the gate stayed close until all our IDs had been noted and compared to the list of registered attendees. Despite having a good laugh at the mixture of old and new ID cards it was a straight-forward processing. The ward was very helpful and guided us to the waiting area at the entrance section of the building. Shortly after we were welcomed by Kamlesh Bokhoree, the Data Centre Officer. He gave us brief introduction into the rules and regulations during our visit, like no photography allowed, not touching the buttons, and following his instructions through the whole visit. Of course! Inside the data centre Next, he explained us the multi-factor authentication system using a combination of bio-metric data, like finger print reader, and "classic" pin panel. The Emtel data centre provides multiple services and next to co-location for your own hardware they also offer storage options for your backup and archive data in their massive, fire-resistant vault. Very impressive to get to know about the considerations that have been done in choosing the right location and how to set up the whole premises. It should also be noted that there is 24/7 CCTV surveillance inside and outside the buildings. Strengths of the Emtel TIER 3 Data Centre, Mauritius Finally, we were guided into the first server room. And wow, the whole setup is cleverly planned and outlined in the architecture. From the false floor and ceilings in order to provide optimum air flow, over to the separation of cold and hot aisles between the full-size server racks, and of course the monitored air conditions in order to analyse and watch changes in temperature, smoke detection and other parameters. And not surprisingly everything has been implemented in two independent circuits. There is a standardised classification for the construction and operation of data centres world-wide, and the Emtel's one has been designed to be a TIER 4 building but due to the lack of an alternative power supplier on the island it is officially registered as a TIER 3 compliant data centre. Maybe in the long run there might be a second supplier of energy next to CEB... time will tell. Luckily, the data centre is integrated into the National Fibre Optic Gigabit Ring and Emtel already connects internationally through diverse undersea cable routes like SAFE & LION/LION2 out of Mauritius and through several other providers for onwards connectivity. The data centre is part of the National Fibre Optic Gigabit Ring and has redundant internet connectivity onwards. Meanwhile, Arvin managed to join our little group of geeks and he supported Kamlesh in answering our technical questions regarding the capacities and general operation of the data centre. Visiting the NOC and its dedicated team of IT professionals was surely one of the visual highlights. Seeing their wall of screens to monitor any kind of activities on the data lines, the managed servers and the activity in and around the building was great. Even though I'm using a multi-head setup since years I cannot keep it up with that setup... ;-) But I got a couple of ideas on how to improve my work spaces here at the office. Clear advantages of hosting your e-commerce and mobile backends locally After the completely isolated NOC area we continued our Q&A session with Kamlesh and Arvin in the second server room which is dedictated to shared environments. On first thought it should be well-noted that there is lots of space for full-sized racks and therefore co-location of your own hardware. Actually, given the feedback that there will be upcoming changes in prices the facilities at the Emtel data centre are getting more and more competitive and interesting for local companies, especially small and medium enterprises. After seeing this world-class infrastructure available on the island, I'm already considering of moving one of my root servers abroad to be co-located here on the island. This would provide an improved user experience in terms of site performance and latency. This would be a good improvement, especially for upcoming e-commerce solutions for two of my local clients. Later on, we actually started the conversation of additional services that could be a catalyst for the local market in order to attract more small and medium companies to take the data centre into their evaluations regarding online activities. Until today Emtel does not provide virtualised server environments but there might be ongoing plans in the future to cover this field as well. Emtel is a mobile operator and internet connectivity provider in the first place, entering a market of managed and virtualised server infrastructures including capacities in terms of cloud storage and computing are rather new and there is a continuous learning curve at Emtel, too. You cannot just jump into a new market and see how it works out... And I appreciate Emtel's approach towards a solid fundament and then building new services on top of that. Emtel as a future one-stop-shop service provider for all your internet and telecommunications needs. Emtel's promotional video about their TIER 3 data centre in Arsenal, Mauritius More details are thoroughly described in Emtel's brochure of their data centre. Check out their PDF document here. Thanks for this opportunity Visiting and walking through the Emtel data centre for more than 2 hours was a great experience. As representative of the Mauritius Software Craftsmanship Community (MSCC) I would like to thank anyone at Emtel involved in the process of making it happen, and especially to Arvin Lockee and Kamlesh Bokhoree for their time and patience in explaining the infrastructure and answering all the endless questions from our members. Thank You!

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, May 28, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, May 28, 2010New ProjectsBang: BangBox Office: Event Management for Community Theater Groups: Box Office is an event management web application to help theater groups manage & promote their shows. Manage performance schedules, sell tickets, ...CellsOnWeb: El espacio de las células del Programa Académico Microsoft en Argentina. CRM 4.0 Plugin Queue Item Counter: This is a crm 4.0 plugin to count queue items in each folder and display the number at the end of the name. For example, if the queue name is "Tes...Date Calculator: Date Calculator is a small desktop utility developed using Windows Forms .NET technology. This utility is analogous to the "Date calculation" modul...Enterprise Library Investigate: Enterprise Library Investigate ProjecteProject Management: Ứng dụng nền tảng web hỗ trợ quản lí và giám sát tiến độ dự án của tổ chức doanh nghiệp.Fiddler TreeView Panel Extension: Extension for Fiddler, to display the session information in a TreeView panel instead of the default ListBox, so it groups the information logicall...Git Source Control Provider: Git Source Control Provider is a Visual Studio Plug-in that integrates Git with Visual Studio.InspurProjects: Project on Inspur Co.Kryptonite: The Kryptonite project aims to improve development of websites based on the Kentico CMS. MLang .NET Wrapper: Detect the encoding of a text without BOM (Byte Order Mask) and choose the best Encoding for persistence or network transport of textMondaze: Proof of concept using Windows Azure.MultipointControls: A collection of controls that applied Windows Multipoint Mouse SDK. Windows Multipoint Mouse SDK enable app to have multiple mice interact simultan...Mundo De Bloques: "Mundo de bloques" makes it easier for analists to find the shortest way between two states in a problem using an heuristic function for Artificial...MyRPGtests: Just some tests :)OffInvoice Add-in for MS Office 2010: Project Description: The project it's based in the ability to extend funtionality in the Microsoft Office 2010 suite.OpenGraph .NET: A C# client for the Facebook Graph API. Supports desktop, web, ASP.NET MVC, and Silverlight connections and real-time updates. PLEASE NOTE: I dis...Portable Extensible Metadata (PEM) Data Annotation Generator: This project intends to help developers who uses PEM - Portable Extensible Metadata for Entity Framework generating Data Annotation information fro...Production and sale of plastic window systems: Automation company produces window design, production and sale of plastic window systems, management of sales contracts and their execution, print ...Renjian Storm (Renjian Image Viewer Uploader): Renjian Image Viewer UploaderShark Web Intelligence CMS: Shark Web Intelligence Inc. Content Management System.Shuffleboard Game for Windows Phone 7: This is a sample Shuffleboard game written in Silverlight for Windows Phone 7. It demonstrates physics, procedural animation, perspective transform...Silverlight Property Grid: Visual Studio Style PropertyGrid for Silverlight.SvnToTfs: Simple tool that migrates every Subversion revision toward Team Foundation Server 2010. It is developed in C# witn a WPF front-end.Tamias: Basic Cms Mvc Contrib Portable Area: The goal of this project is to have a easy-to-integrate basic cms for ASP.NET MVC applications based on MVC Contrib Portable Areas.TwitBy: TwitBy is a Twitter client for anyone who uses Twitter. It's easy to use and all of the major features are there. More features to come. H...Under Construction: A simple site that can be used as a splash for sites being upgraded or developed. UO Editor: The Owner & Organisation Editor makes it easy to view and edit the names of the registered owner and registered organization for your Windows OS. N...webform2010: this is the test projectWireless Network: ssWiX Toolset: The Windows Installer XML (WiX) is a toolset that builds Windows installation packages from XML source code. The toolset supports a command line en...Xna.Extend: A collection of easy to use Xna components for aiding a game programmer in developing thee next big thing. I plan on using the components from this...New ReleasesA Guide to Parallel Programming: Drop 4 - Guide Preface, Chapters 1 - 5, and code: This is Drop 4 with Guide Preface, Chapters 1 - 5, and References, and the accompanying code samples. This drop requires Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 ...Ajax Toolkit for ASP.NET MVC: MAT 1.1: MAT 1.1Community Forums NNTP bridge: Community Forums NNTP Bridge V09: Release of the Community Forums NNTP Bridge to access the social and anwsers MS forums with a single, open source NNTP bridge. This release solves ...Community Forums NNTP bridge: Community Forums NNTP Bridge V10: Release of the Community Forums NNTP Bridge to access the social and anwsers MS forums with a single, open source NNTP bridge. This release has add...Community Forums NNTP bridge: Community Forums NNTP Bridge V11: Release of the Community Forums NNTP Bridge to access the social and anwsers MS forums with a single, open source NNTP bridge. This release has add...CSS 360 Planetary Calendar: Beta Release: =============================================================================== Beta Release Version: 0.2 Description: This is the beta release de...Date Calculator: DateCalculator v1.0: This is the first release and as far as I know this is a stable version.eComic: eComic 2010.0.0.4: Version 2010.0.0.4 Change LogFixed issues in the "Full Screen Control Panel" causing it to lack translucence Added loupe magnification control ...Expression Encoder Batch Processor: Runtime Application v0.2: New in this version: Added more error handling if files not exist. Added button/feature to quit after current encoding job. Added code to handl...Fiddler TreeView Panel Extension: FiddlerTreeViewPanel 0.7: Initial compiled version of the assembly, ready to use. Please refer to http://fiddlertreeviewpanel.codeplex.com/ for instructions and installation.Gardens Point LEX: Gardens Point LEX v1.1.4: The main distribution is a zip file. This contains the binary executable, documentation, source code and the examples. ChangesVersion 1.1.4 corre...Gardens Point Parser Generator: Gardens Point Parser Generator v1.4.1: Version 1.4.1 differs from version 1.4.0 only in containing a corrected version of a previously undocumented feature which allows the generation of...IsWiX: IsWiX 1.0.264.0: Build 1.0.264.0 - built against Fireworks 1.0.264.0. Adds support for autogenerating the SourceDir prepreprocessor variable and gives user choice t...Matrix: Matrix 0.5.2: Updated licenseMesopotamia Experiment: Mesopotamia 1.2.90: Release Notes - Ugraded to Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 R3 Bug Fixes - Fix to keep any sole organisms that penetrate to the next fitne...Microsoft Crm 4.0 Filtered Lookup: Microsoft Crm 4.0 Filtered Lookup: How to use: Allow passing custom querystring values: Create a DWORD registry key named [DisableParameterFilter] under [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWAR...MSBuild Extension Pack: May 2010: The MSBuild Extension Pack May 2010 release provides a collection of over 340 MSBuild tasks. A high level summary of what the tasks currently cover...MultiPoint Vote: MultiPointVote v.1: This accepts user inputs: number of participants, poll/survey title and the list of options A text file containing the items listed line per line...Mundo De Bloques: Mundo de Bloques, Release 1: "Mundo de bloques" makes it easier for analists to find the shortest way between two states in a problem using an heuristic function for Artificial...OffInvoice Add-in for MS Office 2010: OffInvoice for Office 2010 V1.0 Installer: Add-in for MS Word 2010 or MS Excel 2010 to allow the management (issuing, visualization and reception) of electronic invoices, based in the XML fo...OpenGraph .NET: 0.9.1 Beta: This is the first public release of OpenGraph .NET.patterns & practices: Composite WPF and Silverlight: Prism v2.2 - May 2010 Release: Composite Application Guidance for WPF and Silverlight - May 2010 Release (Prism V2.2) The Composite Application Guidance for WPF and Silverlight ...Portable Extensible Metadata (PEM) Data Annotation Generator: Release 49376: First release.Production and sale of plastic window systems: Yanuary 2009: NOTEBefore loading program, make sure you have installed MySQL and created DataBase that store in Source Code (look at below) Where Is The Source?...PROGRAMMABLE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT: PROGRAMMABLE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT--3.2: The current version of the Programmable Software Development Environment has the capability of reading an optional text file in each source develop...Rapidshare Episode Downloader: RED 0.8.6: - Fixed Edit form to actually save the data - Added Bypass Validation to enable future episodes - Added Search parameter to Edit form - Added refr...Renjian Storm (Renjian Image Viewer Uploader): Renjian Storm 0.6: 人间风暴 v0.6 稳定版sELedit: sELedit v1.1b: + Fixed: when export and import items to text files, there was a bug with "NULL" bytes in the unicode stringShake - C# Make: Shake v0.1.21: Changes: FileTask CopyDir method modified, see documentationSharePoint Labs: SPLab7001A-ENU-Level100: SPLab7001A-ENU-Level100 This SharePoint Lab will teach how to analyze and audit WSP files. WSP files are somewhere in a no man's land between ITPro...SharePoint Rsync List: 1.0.0.3: Fix spcontext dispose bug in menu try and run jobs only on central admin server mark a single file failure if file not copied don't delete destinat...Shuffleboard Game for Windows Phone 7: Shuffleboard 1.0.0.1: Source code, solution files, and assets.Software Is Hardwork: Sw. Is Hw. Lib. 3.0.0.x+04: Sw. Is Hw. Lib. 3.0.0.x+04SoulHackers Demon Unite(Chinese version): WPFClient pre alpha: can unite 2, 3 or more demons. can un-unite 1 demon to 2 demon (no triple un-unite yet).Team Deploy: Team Deploy 2010 R1: This is the initial release for Team Deploy 2010 for TFS Team Build 2010. All features from Team Build 2.x are functional in this version. Comple...Under Construction: Under Construction: All Files required to show under construction page. The Page will pull through the Domain name that the site is being run on this allows you to use...Unit Driven: Version 0.0.5: - Tests nested by namespace parts. - Run buttons properly disabled based on currently running tests. - Timeouts for async tests enabled.UO Editor: UO Editor v1.0: Initial ReleaseVCC: Latest build, v2.1.30527.0: Automatic drop of latest buildWeb Service Software Factory Contrib: Import WSDL 2010: Generate Service Contract models from existing WSDL documents for Web Service Software Factory 2010. Usage: Install the vsix and right click on a S...Most Popular ProjectsRawrWBFS ManagerAJAX Control ToolkitMicrosoft SQL Server Product Samples: DatabaseSilverlight ToolkitWindows Presentation Foundation (WPF)patterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryMicrosoft SQL Server Community & SamplesPHPExcelASP.NETMost Active ProjectsAStar.netpatterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryGMap.NET - Great Maps for Windows Forms & PresentationSqlServerExtensionsBlogEngine.NETRawrpatterns & practices: Windows Azure Security GuidanceCodeReviewCustomer Portal Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRMIonics Isapi Rewrite Filter

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• Finding a person in the forest

  - by PointsToShare

  © 2011 By: Dov Trietsch. All rights reserved finding a person in the forest or Limiting the AD result in SharePoint People Picker There are times when we need to limit the SharePoint audience of certain farms or servers or site collections to a particular audience. One of my experiences involved limiting access to US citizens, another to a particular location. Now, most of us – your humble servant included – are not Active Directory experts – but we must be able to handle the “audience restrictions” as required. So here is how it’s done in a nutshell. Important note. Not all could be done in PowerShell (at least not yet)! There are no Windows PowerShell commands to configure People Picker. The stsadm command is: stsadm -o setproperty -pn peoplepicker-searchadcustomquery -pv ADQuery –url http://somethingOrOther Note the long-hyphenated property name. Now to filling the ADQuery.   LDAP Query in a nutshell Syntax LDAP is no older than SQL and an LDAP query is actually a query against the LDAP Database. LDAP attributes are the equivalent of Database columns, so why do we have to learn a new query language? Beats me! But we must, so here it is. The syntax of an LDAP query string is made of individual statements with relational operators including: = Equal <= Lower than or equal >= Greater than or equal… and memberOf – a group membership. ! Not * Wildcard Equal and memberOf are the most commonly used. Checking for absence uses the ! – not and the * - wildcard Example: (SN=Grant) All whose last name – SurName – is Grant Example: (!(SN=Grant)) All except Grant Example: (!(SN=*)) all where there is no SurName i.e SurName is absent (probably Rappers). Example: (CN=MyGroup) Common Name is MyGroup.  Example: (GN=J*) all the Given Names that start with J (JJ, Jane, Jon, John, etc.) The cryptic SN, CN, GN, etc. are attributes and more about them later All the queries are enclosed in parentheses (Query). Complex queries are comprised of sets that are in AND or OR conditions. AND is denoted by the ampersand (&) and the OR is denoted by the vertical pipe (|). The general syntax is that of the Prefix polish notation where the operand precedes the variables. E.g +ab is the sum of a and b. In an LDAP query (&(A)(B)) will garner the objects for which both A and B are true. In an LDAP query (&(A)(B)(C)) will garner the objects for which A, B and C are true. There’s no limit to the number of conditions. In an LDAP query (|(A)(B)) will garner the objects for which either A or B are true. In an LDAP query (|(A)(B)(C)) will garner the objects for which at least one of A, B and C is true. There’s no limit to the number of conditions. More complex queries have both types of conditions and the parentheses determine the order of operations. Attributes Now let’s get into the SN, CN, GN, and other attributes of the query SN – is the SurName (last name) GN – is the Given Name (first name) CN – is the Common Name, usually GN followed by SN OU – is an Organization Unit such as division, department etc. DC – is a Domain Content in the AD forest l – lower case ‘L’ stands for location. Jerusalem anybody? Or Katmandu. UPN – User Principal Name, is usually the first part of an email address. By nature it is unique in the forest. Most systems set the UPN to be the first initial followed by the SN of the person involved. Some limit the total to 8 characters. If we have many ‘jsmith’ we have to somehow distinguish them from each other. DN – is the distinguished name – a name unique to AD forest in which it lives. Usually it’s a CN with some domain or group distinguishers. DN is important in conjunction with the memberOf relation. Groups have stricter requirement. Each group has to have a unique name - its CN and it has to be unique regardless of its place. See more below. All of the attributes are case insensitive. CN, cn, Cn, and cN are identical. objectCategory is an element that requires special consideration. AD contains many different object like computers, printers, and of course people and groups. In the queries below, we’re limiting our search to people (person). Putting it altogether Let’s get a list of all the Johns in the SPAdmin group of the Jerusalem that local domain. (&(objectCategory=person)(memberOf=cn=SPAdmin,ou=Jerusalem,dc=local)) The memberOf=cn=SPAdmin uses the cn (Common Name) of the SPAdmin group. This is how the memberOf relation is used. ‘SPAdmin’ is actually the DN of the group. Also the memberOf relation does not allow wild cards (*) in the group name. Also, you are limited to at most one ‘OU’ entry. Let’s add Marvin Minsky to the search above. |(&(objectCategory=person)(memberOf=cn=SPAdmin,ou=Jerusalem,dc=local))(CN=Marvin Minsky) Here I added the or pipeline at the beginning of the query and put the CN requirement for Minsky at the end. Note that if Marvin was already in the prior result, he’s not going to be listed twice. One last note: You may see a dryer but more complete list of attributes rules and examples in: http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=5667 And finally (thus negating the claim that my previous note was last), to the best of my knowledge there are 3 more ways to limit the audience. One is to use the peoplepicker-searchadcustomfilter property using the same ADQuery. This works only in SP1 and above. The second is to limit the search to users within this particular site collection – the property name is peoplepicker-onlysearchwithinsitecollection and the value is yes (-pv yes) And the third is –pn peoplepicker-serviceaccountdirectorypaths –pv “OU=ou1,DC=dc1…..” Again you are limited to at most one ‘OU’ phrase – no OU=ou1,OU=ou2… And now the real end. The main property discussed in this sprawling and seemingly endless monogram – peoplepicker-searchadcustomquery - is the most general way of getting the job done. Here are a few examples of command lines that worked and some that didn’t. Can you see why? C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN>stsa dm -o setproperty -url http://somethingOrOther -pn peoplepicker-searchadcustomfi lter -pv (Title=David) Operation completed successfully. C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN>stsa dm -o setproperty -url http://somethingOrOther -pn peoplepicker-searchadcustomfi lter -pv (!Title=David) Operation completed successfully. C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN>stsa dm -o setproperty -url http://somethingOrOther -pn peoplepicker-searchadcustomfi lter -pv (OU=OURealName,OU=OUMid,OU=OUTop,DC=TopDC,DC=MidDC,DC=BottomDC) Command line error. Too many OUs C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN>stsa dm -o setproperty -url http://somethingOrOther -pn peoplepicker-searchadcustomfi lter -pv (OU=OURealName) Operation completed successfully. C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN>stsa dm -o setproperty -url http://somethingOrOther -pn peoplepicker-searchadcustomfi lter -pv (DC=TopDC,DC=MidDC,DC=BottomDC) Operation completed successfully. C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN>stsa dm -o setproperty -url http://somethingOrOther -pn peoplepicker-searchadcustomfi lter -pv (OU=OURealName,DC=TopDC,DC=MidDC,DC=BottomDC) Operation completed successfully.   That’s all folks!

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